More Than a Game: The Real-World Connections in Persona 5

*This text consists of Persona 5 spoilers*

Recently I spent hours playing one of the most famous Japanese RPG games (role-playing game) of all time, Persona 5. In the beginning, I was skeptical and kinda scared, just because I am not a very skillful player. After playing the game for around 100 hours, I know, I was amazed at how games portray the real world and how deep the meaning could be. Persona 5 takes place in Tokyo, following our main character codenamed Joker. He is a high school student who was framed for assault, put on probation, and sent off to a different town in Tokyo. On the way to his new high school, Joker meets a boy named Ryuji. Ryuji mentions that the school’s physical education teacher Komashida has been assaulting students and training them to their limits, harming them physically and mentally. After noticing a weird app on their phone, Joker and Ryuji think nothing of it and arrive at school. But what they find is far from the school building, it is a palace. Upon entering the palace, they find their teacher dressed as a king. After roaming the inside of the palace Joker awakens to his power, defeats Komashida by changing his heart and making him confess his crimes to the public. Throughout the duration of the game, they meet other students of the new high school who had been abused, let down by other adults, and form a group called the Phantom Thieves of Heart.

The game consists of adults who consistently misuse their power and manipulate the public for their interests. The palaces include a renowned artist Madarame who stole an in-game Mona Lisa from the original artist, Kaneshiro who is a mafia boss who sees the public as ATM machines and exploits them for their money. Another one is Okumura who is the CEO of the most famous fast-food chain. He overworks his employees until the point of exhaustion. The last palace is for the new prime minister, Shido. He eliminates the people who do not serve him and aims to basically sell the country to make immense amounts of money. But changing his heart and making him confess his crime does not change the public's opinion, people still believe and root for his victory. This attitude showcases the power structure that influences public perception. Even when the truth is exposed, individuals choose to trust authority figures because it is safer than questioning the system.

Our thieves realize that in order to change the public’s opinion of Shido, every individual’s heart must be changed. The final assignment is to defeat what people believe. The imaginary for this part consists of religious figures and angels. This made me think about the pivotal point of religion on people and how sometimes society can base their behaviors on the things they believe rather than accepting the consequences. It is a way to normalize and rationalize actions they know are wrong by heart. In the final scenes, the public can be seen as prisoners who have been chained by their own choice. We can understand that they gave up on their autonomy because following someone else’s orders or someone else making accords for them is easier and more convenient than deciding on their own.

The last scenes got me thinking about the autonomy and how much control we actually have over our own decisions. Even though we can say that we are totally independent and free, we are all influenced by society, culture, expectations, and even our own past experiences. Still, that does not mean that we do not have a choice. It is in our hands to make decisions and create the line of our own lives. Even in moments when following orders feels like the only option, there is always a space – no matter how small – for questioning, for thinking, for choosing. Furthermore, even though the game is fully fictional we, as individuals, have the power to stand up for manipulations, wrongdoings, and imposed expectations.