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Kbas pimp post - Persona 5
(For this fandom I nominated a bunch of tags but could only request Akira/Ryuji. Not sure where the line falls here, but just in case: I am team Girlfriends so you can guess which other tags are mine and I will love you for it. Here, however, will talk about the actual requested ship)
Best friends seems to be the recurrent topic for me huh? This time, the game edition.
So what's Persona 5, you ask? Good question.
For me, and what matters to me the most, is that they are a bunch of kids that are faced with injustice and care enough to try and change that. Of course, they are not alone in that. For reasons that would be long to explain right now, they have access to the society's subconscious mind. And through that, they are able to make people in the real world to change their minds so they stop doing the bad thing that they were doing.
As these things go, everything starts with Kurusu Akira, our protagonist. Also known as Ren in the anime (or, Ren-ren, as Ryuji calls him in the anime. It's as cute as it sounds). He sees a guy htting a girl on the street and he steps in to defend her and he ends up in Tokyo, alone, in probation with a criminal record. Living on the upper floor of a coffee shop of a guy that looks straight out of a Lupin comic and with a bed made out of plastic boxes. Personality wise, you kind of shape that yourself as you play, but he's supposed to be smart enough to be the leader of a criminal band, and very loyal to his friends, to the point to die for them. Pretend to die for them? At the very least get very beat up for them. A true sailor of justice, willing to go whatever extra mile to punish the bad guys and with as much flair as Tuxedo Mask. Also, essentially, a dumbass.
On his first day, he somehow ends in this weird version of the school with one of his schoolmates, trapped in a prison cell, old style. Neither of them know how or what happened to the school, and then the PE teacher, or a version of him, comes up and attacks his schoolmate. He has to protect him, and so his power awakens. He transforms from Akira to Joker. And with that, and the help of Morgana, a talking not-a-cat, that they find also trapped, Joker and his schoolmate try to get out of there safely. Until, of course, they get ambushed and Joker is hit.
Or would be, if his schoolmate, completely normal, did not put himself in the middle to save him.
And thus, awakening his own inner power.
Who is the schoolmate, you ask? He's Ryuji. Isn't it a lovely first meeting?Almost like it was destiny that they had to save each other.
Sakamoto Ryuji, who is late one day to school and decides to be nice to the transfer student and ends up almost giving his life for him. Ryuji, while not having a criminal record, is pretty much the school delinquent when Akira meets him. It wasn't always like that, though. He was the star of the track team, popular and with a bright future ahead. And then he stepped on the way of said PE teacher, who broke his knee, and his future in track. He's pretty much a jock with his heart on the right place. Maybe not the smartest of the group, but like he's with a group of very very smart people. But it doesn't matter because he is the heart of the group and the origin of everything, because without him the first day, Akira might have not awaken his powers.
In the end, they defeat the bigger power and their powers are sealed and, having grown and evolved, are forced to go their separate ways. Akira to his hometown, and Ryuji near to a physical rehab center to try and get his career back. But what the metaverse has united won't be separated forever. And Ryuji does want to keep in touch with him.
Honestly, as a protagonist of the game, Akira does not have much to say regarding his preference for this or that, however Ryuji? Ryuji is so open with is affections (no, seriously), even as a typical bro. Oh, but you know what can he choose? His romantic partner. Whoever you romance through the game, you get their valentine's chocolate heart at the end. And if you don't romance anyone? You get Ryuji'schocolate heart.
There's a point where, right before Akira is about to risk his life, Ryuji calls him in the middle of the night and it felt like a moment.
They are two sides of the same coin, and they just met too early for something to happen, but there is magic there. That should not be overlooked.
Some things that might be useful for you to get to know them better:
- Ryuji and Akira's meaningful interactions during the game, and Ryuji's backstory.
- heaven/hell, Ryuji and Ann meet on the school rooftop and comfort each other.
- Escapril, a series of short ficlets of their relationship. heaven/hell is partof it, but I would also highlight earthly pleasures, about Ryuji being askedabout when he started liking guys, and obsession, where Akira and Ryuji get matching earrings.
- a storm is coming. The Phantom Thieves go visit Akira to his hometown during summer break.
- Jank, a study of Ryuji
- read between the lines, a very, very cute canon divergence fic
- your hand I held, bittersweet, how the game should have ended. Or how it ended, to me.
- Checks and balances, future fic where Akira attends a political gala with Ryuji by his side.
Best friends seems to be the recurrent topic for me huh? This time, the game edition.
So what's Persona 5, you ask? Good question.
For me, and what matters to me the most, is that they are a bunch of kids that are faced with injustice and care enough to try and change that. Of course, they are not alone in that. For reasons that would be long to explain right now, they have access to the society's subconscious mind. And through that, they are able to make people in the real world to change their minds so they stop doing the bad thing that they were doing.
As these things go, everything starts with Kurusu Akira, our protagonist. Also known as Ren in the anime (or, Ren-ren, as Ryuji calls him in the anime. It's as cute as it sounds). He sees a guy htting a girl on the street and he steps in to defend her and he ends up in Tokyo, alone, in probation with a criminal record. Living on the upper floor of a coffee shop of a guy that looks straight out of a Lupin comic and with a bed made out of plastic boxes. Personality wise, you kind of shape that yourself as you play, but he's supposed to be smart enough to be the leader of a criminal band, and very loyal to his friends, to the point to die for them. Pretend to die for them? At the very least get very beat up for them. A true sailor of justice, willing to go whatever extra mile to punish the bad guys and with as much flair as Tuxedo Mask. Also, essentially, a dumbass.
On his first day, he somehow ends in this weird version of the school with one of his schoolmates, trapped in a prison cell, old style. Neither of them know how or what happened to the school, and then the PE teacher, or a version of him, comes up and attacks his schoolmate. He has to protect him, and so his power awakens. He transforms from Akira to Joker. And with that, and the help of Morgana, a talking not-a-cat, that they find also trapped, Joker and his schoolmate try to get out of there safely. Until, of course, they get ambushed and Joker is hit.
Or would be, if his schoolmate, completely normal, did not put himself in the middle to save him.
And thus, awakening his own inner power.
Who is the schoolmate, you ask? He's Ryuji. Isn't it a lovely first meeting?
Sakamoto Ryuji, who is late one day to school and decides to be nice to the transfer student and ends up almost giving his life for him. Ryuji, while not having a criminal record, is pretty much the school delinquent when Akira meets him. It wasn't always like that, though. He was the star of the track team, popular and with a bright future ahead. And then he stepped on the way of said PE teacher, who broke his knee, and his future in track. He's pretty much a jock with his heart on the right place. Maybe not the smartest of the group, but like he's with a group of very very smart people. But it doesn't matter because he is the heart of the group and the origin of everything, because without him the first day, Akira might have not awaken his powers.
In the end, they defeat the bigger power and their powers are sealed and, having grown and evolved, are forced to go their separate ways. Akira to his hometown, and Ryuji near to a physical rehab center to try and get his career back. But what the metaverse has united won't be separated forever. And Ryuji does want to keep in touch with him.
Honestly, as a protagonist of the game, Akira does not have much to say regarding his preference for this or that, however Ryuji? Ryuji is so open with is affections (no, seriously), even as a typical bro. Oh, but you know what can he choose? His romantic partner. Whoever you romance through the game, you get their valentine's chocolate heart at the end. And if you don't romance anyone? You get Ryuji's
There's a point where, right before Akira is about to risk his life, Ryuji calls him in the middle of the night and it felt like a moment.
They are two sides of the same coin, and they just met too early for something to happen, but there is magic there. That should not be overlooked.
Some things that might be useful for you to get to know them better:
VIDEOS
- Ryuji and Akira's meaningful interactions during the game, and Ryuji's backstory.
FICS
- heaven/hell, Ryuji and Ann meet on the school rooftop and comfort each other.
- Escapril, a series of short ficlets of their relationship. heaven/hell is partof it, but I would also highlight earthly pleasures, about Ryuji being askedabout when he started liking guys, and obsession, where Akira and Ryuji get matching earrings.
- a storm is coming. The Phantom Thieves go visit Akira to his hometown during summer break.
- Jank, a study of Ryuji
- read between the lines, a very, very cute canon divergence fic
- your hand I held, bittersweet, how the game should have ended. Or how it ended, to me.
- Checks and balances, future fic where Akira attends a political gala with Ryuji by his side.