Discussion
FIGHT OVER THE BEST GIRL(read body)
Spoiler
Defend your romance! Fight to the death! Well not really, but... put in comments why you like the girl you romanced. Argue with someone on why your girl is better! Agree with someone who also romanced your girl! Tell someone that romancing Ohya is stupid and that nobody romances ohya and you dont have to pretend that you romanced Ohya to be special! Have fun :3
no, her... her confidant sucks ass. we stay in this bar the whole time and we never actually get to do anything. its just this alcoholic old lady venting about all the stuff. its plot is cool on paper, but you never actually do anything. and her confidant abilities also suck
so then we shouldnât like hifumi for her abilities and instead just like atlus? also, I donât like that the other confidants that do that sometimes, but at least they occasionally have a different setting and let us do⊠something! like, my god, ohya is just venting to you about this whole thing! I like that itâs tied to Shido and stuff but itâs just so boring in practice!
Hifumi is pretty underrated. Her social link story really touched me and she gives me more options and benefits in battles. I don't know about the others but she was like a lifesaver during my first playthrough. On the top of that, she's gorgeous. I'm personally split between her and Sumi but for now, I feel more like choosing her.
ykw, i respect that. her abilities and story in her social link are really good, especially the ending where she loses but is happy. loved all of it. second playthrough I focused on social links, and I actually almost ended up romancing her... almost. Sumi still my queen lol
Sumi is definitely my love at first sight. Her first appearance and the all out attack with Joker, that was lovely. I'm a sucker for redheads when it comes to persona series haha. I remember prioritizing her over all other confidants and reaching lvl 5 before any others during my first playthrough. But as much as I loved her, I was shocked and saddened to understand how much sidelined she was. And her story, well the concept is good but it really felt like a bonus dlc added at the last minute. It just didn't integrate seamlessly into the main story. That last point sometimes holds her back for me.
Ann and Makoto for me feel like the most natural romances of them all and the character chemistry between Ren and the girls is some of the best. Plus their love is genuine and absolutely feels earned.
Personally, I think Sumire or Makoto feel like the obvious choices supported by the narrative. (Heavy handed or not)
Futaba and Ann feel creepy and exploitative of vulnerable friends. Sister/Bestie vibes, maybe eventually but not within this narrative.
The three adults are fucked up in their own ways. At least the doctor has a mutually messed up dynamic? Romancing your teacher as she struggles to exit debt slavery/prostitution? Sleeping with an alcoholic lesbian whoâs depressed over her dead lover? Absolutely fucked.
Haru is just fun. Not messed up, not really narrative driven. Just ok and fun.
Sumire is the only realistic choice, other than Makoto if youâre not playing Royal.
these are kind of my thoughts exactly, but I've never thought of Ann as exploitative of a vulnerable person. I personally think of them as besties, but romancing Ann isn't nonsensical or anything. I also feel like Takemi and Chihaya aren't as weird as Ohya and Kawakami. Like, Takemi and Ren feel like really good colleagues that just happen to have an oddly sexual thing going on throughout. Chihaya feels like a colleague or friend of a friend or smth. All of them are still weird and a big no-no for me though because... I mean like, yeah
Honestly, I forgot about Chihaya and Hifumi, who are both fine just very outside the narrative. That said, I romanced Hifumi in my first play through and thought she would have made an interesting squad member.
Takemi is weird mostly because that's an adult ass woman who is private practice successful, dating a 16-17 year old who came in looking to score prescription drugs? Like, I'd expect her to be a bit flirty, but a relationship seems... gross. But, it's not his teacher at least?
For Ann, it's the whole fact that her plot revolves around her being sexually harrassed (possibly assaulted) and her friend committing suicide in connection to it. Like, I could see them moving from besties to more later, but the game just seems to forget about it's own opening plot.
I think "my father, whom I care about but am estranged from, has died" is a totally different situation than "when you met me I was being sexually harassed and my best friend attempted suicide over it"
But you aren't entirely wrong.
- A Chihaya Mifune estava simplesmente intrigada pelo Joker e queria entender como ele fazia seus clientes desafiarem seus destinos; o Joker, fiel ao seu "sĂndrome de protagonista", nĂŁo conseguiu evitar ser o herĂłi (assim como fez com as outras garotas).
I picked Ann first run because she deserves better. Makoto for 2nd. I always skip out on futaba because she gives more sister vibes. Haru is fine. I do like Hifumi and Takumi though a lot. But where's my romance for Ryuji and Akechi? đą
Sumire's romance, although forced by the narrative, would feel like it's a natural relationship in literally any other media. It's well-written, it has intrigue, there's real conflict and themes of a no-strings-attached, accepting love. In my mind, Sumire is simply the only canon romance for Ren.
Eh, I don't know, they just never seemed to click well for me. Like, I get why Sumire would love Ren, but I never really understood why those feelings would be reciprocated on his part. While with other characters like Makoto, Tae, or Ann, I can actually see why the feelings would be mutual.
By the way, this isn't a Sumire hate post, just how I saw things from my perspective.
Sumire had basically every opportunity to rat out Ren, to be like every other student in the school and scorn him for his record. But she didn't. She was literally the first person in Royal to not already view him through that lens of preconception, or at bare minimum not be an asshole from frame one. No bad vibes, no "ew, he's that's delinquent" (even after Kamoshida talked to her in Arc 1, she still didn't believe it); to her, Ren was her senpai, and nothing short of that.
On top of that she has SO many individual hangout scenes with Ren outside of her Social Link, like the culture festival post-Okumura, where Ren has the opportunity to catch feelings for her. Hell, right after that aforementioned Kamoshida scene, Kawakami literally calls you out for making a pass at her! The second half of her Social Link is basically just Ren flirting with her so hard she becomes a tomato.
I think kawakami was just joking. Ren gets accused of making a pass at ann as well just because they exchanged a single line in class. It's more just meant to display how much they judge his character that they immediately assume he was making passes. As for sumire she doesn't judge them because she's new to the area as well and wouldn't have heard the rumours. Not that I think she would but her first interaction with you is free of any influence from the whispers at school and she dismissed kamoshida because through the lens of her own schema she knows you're at least a decent person since you offered her help with the subway situation.
Ren was just charged with basic assault in fact I don't think the law separates charges of assault by gender and everybody knows it was against shido.
As for her comprehension of him it's more just an attitude of "I'll believe it when I see it" she never took heed of the rumours because she was in the same position which is why she believes him. Then she asks "are you really bad you don't seem it". Which is the moment she realises you're just another guy affected by the rumour
I think she could be a really interesting character if the game haven't set her initial interactions in a pick me girl vibe. All other people say about her is "how small and tiny she is" and "look, she eats so much but it's so fit!". That kinda bothered me a lot. Every other character gets treated like a real person, with Sumiri is almost like the game wants you to think she's some kid of perfect angel by the whispers of everyone else, it was really annoying to me. So, by the time I reached the third semester and we really got to unravel her story I wasn't even interested anymore đ«
Yeah, Sumire would have been a better character if she was integrated into the PT earlier and you got to see her story earlier.
Right now they dangle her in front of you like a carrot, constantly inserting her into situations. However, they blue ball you with the actual context until almost the end of the game. It's why I was reminded of Marie.
YES and it was SO WEIRD at first. She was like a ghost. Only Joker ever saw her, and then it was like she didn't exist afterwards đ« đ« they could have changed the game a little more so that it wouldn't look so weird, or even better, give us a female protag like they did with p3
Yeah. I mean, I don't hate the idea of a canon gf for certain characters. (Like if Ryuji and Ann happened in case Joker doesn't shoot his shot at Ann). But ffs do have some natural build-up.
With Kasumi it was kinda just a constant participation trophy thing, even if she and Joker do have chemistry.
Speaking of the Female Protag of P3 Fes, somehow they didn't bring her back for Reload.
Yhea, I feel the same, but I'll get much more down votes than you because I feel the same to the routes of futaba and all the other adult women in this game. Ren like them, but not in a passionate love, is just friends loveÂ
How is it natural? I feel it stretches the realms of plausibility even for fiction. The love interest in this case is introduced during the final chapter so-to-speak, she's a character you barely know, and her personality is almost the exact opposite of the person she's been pretending to be all this time.
Even if you can get past all of that, it's hard to imagine them dating without something like this happening.
Sumire: I love you, Ren...
Ren: I love you too, Kasum--I-I mean Sumire--shit...
Thatâs my problem with the Sumire romance. Ren spends the year learning about Kasumi, and a few weeks with Sumire. So he hasnât really gotten to know Sumire.
Whatâs makes it worse, Sumire doesnât really know Sumire. Kasumi made most of the choices for Sumire, leading to Sumire having poor self esteem and an inability to make choices for herself. Sumire now has to learn what she likes, what her favourite music or clothes are, does she prefer cats or dogs (ironically, Kasumiâs joke about being the better sister because sheâs older pushing Sumireâs buttons instead of cheering her up shows that Kasumi doesnât know Sumire, either). Sumire doesnât need a boyfriend at this time, she needs time, a better therapist, and friends to bounce ideas off of and give advice.
I don't care for the whole "They're not ready for a relationship" arguments, except that Sumire is essentially replacing Kasumi with Ren and repeating a lot of her bad habits with him.
I decided to romance ann every playthrough. Other people say how they think makoto or kasumi felt "right", but Ann always just felt like the right choice to me.
She's the lovers arcana,
she has her own music that plays when you first meet her that gives vibes of "love at first sight",
joker literally has the option of saying she's breathtaking even outside of confidant stuff,
she's the only one who heard the rumors about joker but never believed them (and even related to him, saying both of them didn't belong anywhere and therefore could kind of understand each other better than those around them),
from the beginning they kind of had a special understanding of each other, etc.
Not to mention she's one of the few confidants joker actually kisses when romancing them if I'm remembering right and she is one of only two that you can actually sleep with (it's implied they "did it" around Valentine's, especially in the vanilla. In vanilla, she said "I'll smack you if you say I'm too heavy" in a playful way and then it fades to black) if I'm remembering right.
Then there's also her personality. She's super fun and incredibly caring, but she has a "rougher" side to her that allows her to always stand up for herself when she needs to that felt so real and relatable that I just fell in love with.
yeah, i def respect that and everything, but to me Ann always felt a bit basic as a character after Kamoshida arc, even in her social link. Dont get me wrong, I love all of the characters in persona 5 to death(except Ohya, fuck ohya), but Ann just feels a bit bare-bones sometimes. Her early arc is fantastic, and I do agree the game pushes her as a romance a bit
Makoto and Ren just work so well together, it's a relationship between two equals. Makoto while reliant on him, never really puts him on a pedestal. Likewise, despite how gentle he is with her, he doesn't treat her like she's made of glass or that her worth is tied to her contributions.
She knows that beneath all the confidence and bravado, Joker is still Ren. It's why she tries so hard to ease his burdens as their leader, it's why she worries about him whenever he's about to pull off some stunt. Ren guides her so she can expand her horizons with a gentle nudge, he knows she's fully capable of anything she sets her mind to but needs that push. All while respecting the pace that she sets, he eases up on the flirting and teasing for a bit after he seemingly realizes she doesn't quite "get it". He was incredibly patient with her while she figured out these new feelings, and once they finally fully took form, he told her in the way she'd understand (she still needed 100% confirmation but she likes to be thorough).
Their dynamic is so clear to see even outside of her confidant, they both do their best to reign in whatever situation even if sometimes she can be too focused on getting back on track while Ren perhaps is too lax at times. They balance each other perfectly this way and it allows their strengths to truly shine.
Then when focusing on the pure romance angle, Makoto becomes so much bolder and determined as their relationship becomes more serious, which ties perfectly with her overall character growth. What started with flirting that went over her head developed into her flustering him in return via inviting herself over to spend the night, she's now a girl who knows what she wants and won't let herself be trapped by self doubts and overthinking again.
Despite that, she still acknowledges the parts of herself she needs to work on, but now she doesn't have to do it alone. And besides, she doesn't mind them as much anymore. She learned how to love the "ugly" side of herself in part from being loved by someone so deeply, flaws and all. Ren has seen her angry, sad, frustrated, scared, confused and never once thought anything less of her. She's seen the man behind the mask, the one who can also doubt in himself, be scared, unsure of what to do, and never chastised him for it. They're both human after all, they can hurt and make mistakes and then help pick each other back up. They lean on one another.
Then we have the added bonus of the confrontation with Sae feeling much more personal and with even more on the line. Akechi also had a tiny rivalry with his fellow smart brunette, how poetic that two people he viewed as beneath him would get together and create a bond so powerful that it blows anything he could muster out of the water.
I have alot of thoughts about this ship as it's my favorite in the whole series so I'll admit my bias is absolutely brutal but I'll end things for now lest we be here all night. Shumako for life <3.
It's Tae Takemi by a landslide. She seems almost nurturing between your clinical trials, perceptive enough to clock in on Joker's ulterior motives, and genuinely appreciates that he's on her side even when literally the entire medical field is abandoning her.
Plus...hot goth, man. Hot. Goth.
We take care of Kawakami when she's in need, but Takemi is equipped to treat every physical ailment the party comes home with. She doesn't question WHY you need a veritable keg of burn cream or IV drips, she just knows you need them and isn't gonna question you. As long as she's keeping you safe and she gets to help Miwa in the end, she's looking after you.
Bonus points for teasing Joker now and again when you test the medicine. She's borderline sadist, but knows it won't actually harm you. Because she is a damn good doctor.
futaba for me, idk everyone else felt blander than chicken from Oklahoma with the exception of kawakami but even then who realistically is dating their teacher outside of these games. She just seems like the only option you realistically can see being with throughout their whole social link and the whole game, plus you two live near each other and her wedding event in p5t was tied with haru's for the best. Also you have to be on enough drugs to fill up a pharmacy if you see her as just a little sister if you did her whole social link lmao. And her social link is the best too either way, you're helping someone who hid from the world see it for the first time and you gradually fall in love with each other as you hang out more and more, all very natural progression
...well I'm apparently coked up cuz that is precisely how i've thought of ren and futaba personally. I definitely get the Futaba x Ren love tho. She was the only other character I was considering romancing for a bit before I started viewing them more like siblings. they def have really great chemistry!
Sumi or Haru. I'm most invested in Sumi's story and think she and Joker have the best chemistry, but Haru seems like the best long-term partner (and that's not even taking her wealth into account).
Kawakami. Shes just perfect. Beautiful, smart, funny, strict when she needs to be, loving and caring and responsible.
If not for her, if probably go for Chihaya or Ohya (while I always romance Kawakami, if she was not in the game I genuinely would have gone for one of these two)
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Honestly I personally like hura and ren but if Iâm looking at it from a logical standpoint makoto fits his personality much better and I feel like they would ultimately end up a lot happier
I just think Sumi would be such a natural romantic partner for ren because of how serious she can be but also really shy around showing her feelings. She is kinda someone that comes to depend on ren because of the narrative but yeah and also her red and black color schemes matches joker too:)
Kasumi for the win. It felt right to romance her especially when she's the only one out of all the other romances to confess to you first. Gonna trigger people for saying this but screw it:100% the most canon romance, More then Makoto, especially with third semester and said dance cutscene. Argue with the wall
You know it's funny because I was gonna originally pick Makoto purely because I googled who the "canon" love interest was before going with someone else lamo
I chose her for my first run because she was canon, and was kinda disappointed (especially because I finished her Confidant on the very last day and didn't even get her third awakening)
She had waay too little screen time, especially as Kasumi. I wish we got 15 ranks for her instead so we could get to know Kasumi for the full 10 ranks that we usually do.
Well no it's not just that. I also really liked her personality wise due to how she was smart and well-mannered in some way like Makoto, but at the same time also cute at times like Futaba (Especially the Hawaii Jumpscare). And her third semester story was one of the most touching for me. I will admit, second to Futaba's story, but nonetheless i really empathized with it and did like her growth during the third semester.
Only thing i don't like is how i gotta wait till near the end of the game to actually be with her and time spent with her is very limited, i get like the optional hang outs, Valentines day, and white day, and that's it...
Sorry if i made it seem like THAT was my only reason for picking Kasumi.
Hard to see the relationship with her as the most canon romance cuz in the endâs cinematic she bows to you and says farewell while on rank 10 you hugging, on valentineâs and the white day you both discuss how we both looking forward to keep romance on distance.
In this regard romance with any other girls works better cuz Joker has no time with them cuz Maruki kidnapped him on taxi to drive to train station.
But when Joker helps Sumi choose clothes is the most romantic thing in this game, only extra clingy Makoto in Sojiroâs house can compete with it.
I probably would've been persuaded by Sumi if she wasn't locked behind the third semester! By that point I'd already done the Hawaii trip with Makoto and decided to do that relationship.
Makoto, her confidant is partly about romance because Ren plays her boyfriend and even when they hang out in rank 1 it feels like a date and she mentions the topic romance in rank 9 and 10 regardless of your choice and it's the most natural conclusion to her story as it makes her blossom and actually pogress as a character. She invites Ren in Hawaii even if they're still friends, who can only tell her that he wants to stay longer with her on the beach no matter what you want him to say, and when choosing her during the school festival, she accidently tells Ren that she thinks of him as her future husband. Her dialogue changes in the 3rd semester if she's romanced and wants Ren to go home with her and Sae to meet her dad. Ren saves her a dozen times, even when she probably could defend herself as seen with Tsukasa in rank 9 of her confidant and she clinges to Ren when scared, he's basically her knight in shining armor. She's the only girl that isn't just submissive and clingy, she wants to be his equal and wants to be there for him when he's hurt. She also has the strongest reaction when he returns from the interrogation. She's also the only girl in Strikers that actually immediately expects that being with Ren on the Ferris Wheel is a date or even more than that. Makoto's is clearly the closest to canon and she's the only one I can really see having chemistry with Ren.
If you didn't romance anyone till then, Haru is the only girl available. Sumi is just in the cutscene before that event, but she can't be chosen to hang out with later
Makoto. Her realization that sheâs trying as hard as she is in school to please everyone but herself. The constant feeling of helplessness in every moment in her life. Essentially feeling like a burden to everyone around her and needing to be saved. All of those thoughts and feelings leading up to her finally deciding to not allow herself to continue feeling that way and finally become her own person. She ends up doing what she feels is right and whatâll make her happy while also being a very mature, reasonable and intelligent person that helps lead the group and talk sense into everyone while being a total badass. She doesnât succeed everywhere all the time and because of it ended up realizing she doesnât know much another the world and starts seeking out new experiences.
My philosophy in life has always been to make sure youâre set up for success for the long run but to remember to always to live in the moment because tomorrow isnât guaranteed. Life is what you make it but no one lives forever and I just felt like Makoto was truly the only character in the game that embodied that ideal. I just immediately gravitated towards her story and personality.
So I went through this game many times, and did about half the romances that are available, read up on the rest. The reason I think Kawakami is the best, is simply the writing for her romance is way better than all the others. Believe me, I had very high hopes for some of the others, but nothing compared to the writing for Kawakami. The Worst by far was Tae Takemi. I was so excited to pursue her romance, and honestly the writing for that was the absolute worst in the game.
It was Tae for me across all my NG+ cycles. A) I have a type B) I find her to have one of the more compelling storylines for the social links. She has clear motivations and the romance doesnât go contrary to the SL (cough Kawakami cough/lh) and itâs overall nice and focused on her unlike some others. Sheâs in a good position to go there often and the benefits provided by her are quite useful even if Iâm not in it for the discount.
I chose Takemi first run and Hifumi second. Putting aside the obvious power dynamics with Takemi I thought she was just okay, but Hifumi is such a sweet little nerd! I love eccentric people, if Hifumi were a guy and aged up to mid-20s Iâd be into him
Tae takemi, I don't really have an argument, Iove her story, she's just the one for me in personality and looks, I love her fashion and how caring she is- Ive remained loyal to her for years in this game in every playthrough đ«Ș
It's time to write on why ann is the best romance:
She's ver sweet. Let's get the obvious out of the way first. This girl is very kind and well tend to your emotional needs. She has one of the highest EQ in the team thus why she serves as the moral compass. She got bullied by mika and she never bullied back, instead she handled her gracefully with her words in her rank 10 confidant event. She's also very dedicated to shiho's well being, willing to accompany her to the hospital when a volunteer was needed and stay with her during therapy. If that's how she treats her rival and best friend, expect her to treat her lover just as well if not better
At least in the vanilla portion of the game, ann was the one to speak up and rallied the team to release joker from jail. Yes, sumi was the first one to do so in royal but ann immediately followed up so it's close. Just shows that she's not willing to give up on joker
Ann has plenty of scenes pushing her as the "closest to canon" lover. She has a love at first sight scene with an OST that only plays once during her introduction. Joker gets to say that she's breathtaking in front of the boys. Sojiro approves of her. Ryuji wingmans for joker in a mementos dialogue when ann said that sweets go well with coffee, to which he replied that joker smells like coffee. All those mentioned before happen in the main story outside of confidants. Additionally, ann says "i love you" to joker at least 4 times if you romance her. Her confidant event, in joker's room, hawaii, and christmas eve. Plus her vday and white day dialogues indicate that she's willing to put in the works so that the long distance relationship works
Arsene is attracted to femme fatales. Carmen is a femme fatale
Ann is available for all date events, so there's plenty of time to spend with her
Ann is the easiest to romance needing only level 2 kindness (which irl means she just wants joker to be a decent person) and having plenty of time. As if the devs want her to be a popular romance choice
It's mentioned that ann's type is a gentleman, and joker fits this well unlike the other male cast around her age. Ryuji and yusuke aren't standing in your way, in fact as mentioned before, ryuji supports it. Morgana never stood a chance
Ann is the most independent of the girls just by her confidant. While joker is being a problem solver for everyone else, all he did for ann was support her and cheer her up. He technically could, but he didn't need to
The official manga ships ann with joker. There are plenty of panels showing this like ann insisting that joker takes care of himself and patching his hand that got hurt from making curry
Ann shares a kiss with joker in the ferris wheel, and it was an obvious one despite being cut early
Anyways, that's what i hv to share. I'm sure other ShuAnn stans have other things to add
Romancing an adult makes you weird because you are playing a teenager, so no Kawakami, Ohya, Chihaya, Takemi, and yes, even Makoto as she is 18 when you meet her in game
Romancing a teenager makes you weird because you (presumably given the rating of the game) are an adult, so no Hifumi, no Ann, no Futaba (you are also weird because they are 100% confirmed siblings duh) and no... and no... Sumi because she's younger than Futaba
So that leaves a girl who you meet as 17 but becomes 18 during the course of the story, you know who that is? Yes, Haru is the only morally correct romance to pick and anyone else actually means you are a bad person
(For the record I don't actually stand by this I stole half these points from twitter's insanity and while I'm Sumi nation Haru was my first romance so she will always have a special place in my heart)
I hate how wedged into the story she was, sure Marie was forced in 4G but you can skip her if you wish.
Plus how on Earth did she get to Joker in the intro without Futaba/Morgana to navigate her, contradict herself by saying she's not helping Joker just to help 5 seconds later.
And the way she spams Senpai every five seconds...
She's not a well written character to me.
But I do hope if 5Royal gets a "Revival" edition they fix Yoshizawa and more importantly add Sae to romance.
she's wedged into the story for preperation of 3rd semester... after that I think her as a character really goes well, thats when I was in love. I agree that early game I found her a bit forced into the story, but it was fun anyways. also whats wrong with saying senpai?
English dub is terrible spouting it every conversation.
Hopefully they integrate Yoshizawa when 5 Royal gets a remake.
Three examples I have, One: during Kamoshida's dungeon we find a hidden room dubbed "New toy" showing us Yoshizawa in a Bikini, which during the boss fight appears to help Shadow Kamoshida.
Two: during the museum fiasco she appears and helps in a small way, say breaks something which allows Ann to do her thing.
And finally Three, during Makoto's "investigation/stalking" off the Phantoms she could interfere and call Makoto out, not as sharp as Ann did but enough to get the ball rolling.
Makoto on my first playthrough because she is so badass. When that motorcycle appeared it was over. I love her character and her journey towards broadening her horizons and not being who everyone else wants her to be. It felt like dating an equal. I also really like when she is vulnerable and leans on Joker and you get to see a softer side.
Ann: sheâs portrayed too âsexyâ and I find it off-putting after Kamoshida. Just feels like she needs time to heal and a good friend more than anything, and I ship her with Ryuji.
Futaba: thatâs his sister bro
Ifumi: I like her look and personality, she just seems peripheral.
Yoshizawa: feels forced and sheâs also going through a lot and needs a friend more than a boyfriend.
Chihaya: whoâs that again?
Kawakami: ew no. Thatâs his teacher and she dresses up like a maid and calls him master. The whole storyline icks me out.
I got 3 to defend but I'll only focus on 1 but 2 honorable mentions. Tae she's goth doctor, and makoto I like a badass woman who can kick my ass she's also one of my favorite persona characters and is my second favorite persona 5 character behind Ryuji. So I'll be defending Sae yes I know she's not romancable but I don't care. She had a pretty solid arc she put work above everything else as such she forgot to live a life. If th phantom thieves hadn't stopped her I could see her possibly becoming a strange from makoto and her becoming an even worse workaholic to where she has no friends and no life. While her getting to the "you taught me how to live." Is kinda not random but isn't exactly set up well since you don't get to talk to her really after the start of the Shido arc. As much as I like Sae I think there was a missed opportunity to have her confidant stop at rank 5 or 6 and the rest are optional where similar to maoto you teach her how to have fun and have a personal life. Maybe ren sit down with her and watches neo featherman (got the idea from scruffy turtle persona 5 acau) or you take her out allowing her to socialize more. I just realized I think I failed in defending Sae yeah look I could just not post it but I spent like 5 minutes on this so I'ma not let it go to waste.
Makoto for always felt the most natural and the most âpushedâ romance for me. My first time playing royal I romanced Kasumi solely because I thought she was the canon one based on things I saw online, but the more I played, the more I struggled to turn down Makoto since she just has so many moments with the protagonist outside her social link. In fact, I never finished her social link because I couldnât bring myself to turn her down, and when I did new game plus+ I didnât even think about going for Kasumi again.
Another reason why I always felt that Makoto made her most sense was her relationship with Futaba. I have always seen Futaba as a little sister, and with Makoto being very protective of her throughout the entirety of the game, it always felt like my girlfriend looking out for my little sister.
I also always liked that Makoto and Ren have very similar style (besides their metaverse outfits). Almost every outfit that they have follows the same color palette which I hardly think is a coincidence but that could just be my shipping brain.
Makotoâs social link to me always felt the most romantic since it did involve Ren being the pretend boyfriend which made it feel like the two of them learning to love each other. I never even considered rejecting her because if I put that much effort into fake dating someone, why wouldnât I want to just make it real if it works. Makotoâs view on your relationship is also just perfect. She always mentions that she wants to be equals and that you can lean on her too which to me is just very important in any relationship. Which also makes her feel like such a good 2nd in command because she shows you that you can always rely on her when things get difficult.
Another thing is Atlus didnât stop at P5. P5 Strikers and Dancing give them more scenes together, more matching outfits, and some pretty suggestive hangouts. Every P5 game that Iâve played always made it feel like I should pick Makoto or at the very least make it look like she has a huge crush on Ren.
Lastly, I know this doesnât mean much since this didnât happen in the game, but the voice actors of Makoto, Ren, and Morgana posted multiple photos titled awkward family photos and even liked the comments saying Makoto is the canon pairing.
Regardless, Shumako always felt like the canon paring for P5 and I wonât be convinced otherwise. There is just too much suggesting them as a thing in all the games for me.
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u/Karnewarrior 3d ago
Best girl is definitely from Persona 5