I Find The Dehumanization Of Makoto To Be So Fascinating Especially When Compared To The Dehumanization

alright my kings queens and peeps in between, here be the first infodump of the student council au characters ! before we get into the read more, allow me to note that nami and akira’s gang are @suspectunderinvestigation’s ‼️ pls hit them up w a follow and check out their fics bc honestly this au wouldn’t be possible w/out them ‼️‼️

i also want to note that while these characters do be in existence, I’m gonna try not to hyperfixate on them haha. The focus of the story is still Akechi, Adachi, Akira, and some choice p4 characters who I won’t say anything abt yet so if that’s something that worried u,,, do not worry (and trust me you’ll love these guys anyway <3)

and now let’s get right into the news

starting off, here are some general notes

This takes place during Akechi’s third year at Yasogami, making Akira a second year. Everyone else in the council is a third year. In the gang, Toura is a second year and Shiro is a first year.

The student council race is an important plot point in of itself so I won’t go into too much detail. Besides Akira who was added on late term, any members who aren’t committee heads ran for student council and lost to Akechi.

Akira’s gang is called the Black Masks for irony purposes. They existed before Akira came in, but Akira asserted his dominance almost immediately. Akira has certainly upped the ante for crime (petty thievery, grand thievery, traffic violations, intimidation and general violence, yknow , the usual)

Any crimes Akechi commits are typically swept under the rug by the rest of the student council under the guise of “for the greater good” (the greater good is, stealing tamagotchis for student council appreciation day which he totally did not make up just now)

The student council does not solely rely on Akechi for intimidation, although he’s a big driving force. The main goal of the student council is to stomp out all crime (i.e., Black Masks), improve the student body, and protect the school from shadows.

Oh did I mention shadows? Yes well :)

Due to Adachi never getting caught, the fog never dispersed and the “game” kept going. Except, well, after Souji’s departure, the game wasn’t very fun anymore. So things calmed down.

Not only that, but due to the threat of the encroaching fog, life for Adachi and Akechi mostly became defending themselves for some time.

After Akechi’s ascendancy to student council president, shadows begin to flock around the school. The rest of the student council notices this and decides to investigate. Their investigation leads them to the conclusion that they need Personas.

Everyone’s Persona is based on a Japanese myth and I apologize in advance if there’s anything offensive in the design or anything. I will work to redesign or change the Personas entirely as needed.

(and I also recognize that some of these are already in SMT but I’m using the Loki excuse since none of them are the Personas of major characters or anything lmao)

And in terms of plot notes that’s where I’m stopping for now ;)

So with all that being said, here’s some more specific notes,

Momotaro is a fake Persona much like Robin Hood. Since Robin Hood falls more in line with Persona 5’s trickster theme, Momotaro is meant to blend in with the Japanese mythology of Persona 4.

Akechi is gunning to take over Inaba. The game might have stopped for Adachi, but Akechi is very certain that with the right moves, he could rule the small town, and not just Yasogami.

The double-staff is just a reworked UV light, stolen from Junes. Hitoshi, who works at Junes, watched him break it out of the ceiling it in awed silence.

Hitomi and Hitoshi are twins and had been planning to run for student council president and vice president since they were kids. So. Losing was a pretty big blow to their egos, especially Hitomi’s.

Being extremely anal about losing to Akechi, Hitomi typically doesn’t agree with him on anything at all, being contrarian for the sake of being contrarian.

Hitoshi doesn’t really take the same attitude as Hitomi, but he doesn’t particularly like Akechi. Unfortunately for Hitoshi, Akechi typically hangs around him at his job in order to cover up thefts, and so Akechi subconsciously sees him as a friend necessary ally.

Cho ran for student council solely because she has a crush on Hitomi. She was already promised position of secretary, so she doesn’t particularly mind how the race went and holds no grudge against Akechi.

Eika and Kenzo are childhood best friends. They run their committees without a lot of interference from the council.

Yuugo on the other hand is often consulted by the council to dish out discipline on the student body. Yuugo pretends he doesn’t like to dole out punishment, but having been in a gang in the past, for whatever reason, it brings back good feelings. Thus, Akechi and Yuugo have a pretty solid relationship compared to the other committee heads.

Yuugo was once a Black Mask himself but quit after he started working at Tatsumi Textiles, which, he only started doing because he thought he could get some tips/mentoring from Kanji. Unfortunately, the tips and mentoring he got were square in the opposite direction of how to get away with gang activity.

Nami is an enigma. She’s the new kid who transferred to Yasogami in her third year, so nobody knows a whole lot about her. She makes fast friends with Akechi though, and starts working night shift at Moel Gas Station.

She’s a big fan of Jack Frost. Some of those shadows seem to… flock to her…

Akira is pretty much your baseline Akira, except for the fact that without that initial Metaverse intervention, he had no other way to vent his frustration with getting sent to Inaba, so he just. Joins a gang.

Also, under his probation, he lives with Naoto. Although Naoto is aware of Akira being in the Black Masks, he assumes they’re more lowkey than what they are because under Akira’s leadership, they’re a lot better at covering their tracks. (Being friends with the student council president/nephew of a detective/best friend of the daughter of the head detective helps quite a bit!)

Morgana also exists here but as far as anyone knows he’s just a cat. Just a cat ;)

Sumitomo is Akira’s second in command and his muscle. When their scooters need repaired, Sumitomo’s the one on it. The gang as a whole are saving up money for actual motorcycles, but for now, most of the money they steal goes to repairs.

Sumitomo and Akira have a pretty close relationship and thus far this has been my favorite thing of the AU:

Also, Sumitomo can’t keep a pair of clothing free of tatters to save his life, hence his nickname.

Toura was at Yasogami before Akira, but people often mistake her for his sister. As if she could ever be related to that dweeb tho lmao. She calls herself Ace anyway in reference to this because, well, she might not be his sister by blood but 🥺. Also, she is the brains of the operation.

Shiro is sort of the baby of the gang and keeps a baseball bat with him even in school for protection and also because he thinks it will make him fit in more.

He has a soft spot for animals, which leads him to decisions like

Others often tease Shiro for his hair, having gone prematurely white, but he finds solace from this in the gang. They call him “Snow” (affectionate) and would kill for him given the chance.

And that’s all we’ve got for right now! Hopefully this clears some things up and also helps paves a road for a comic/fic in the future !! If you have any questions hit up the inbox !! Happy to provide any elaborations ;) ‼️

(and any chance for doodles is very very welcome :3 !!)

Is... Is it just me or is Deku getting more baby-faced as the seasons progress?

S1:

S2:

S4:

Like seriously, cut that shit out, if you get any cuter I'll die 😤

---fuckin patty-cake how are u gonna fight afo lookin like that???? U aint scary ur like a bunny trying to be intimidating, stop

okay but also.

i hate the neo world program. i hate the idea of it so much. i hate that their way to save people is to just cut out two-three years of memories, download them into a video game, and then save over those memories once they're better people.

and maybe this is because i come at this from having n2n as one of my favorite musicals where part of let's fix the mentally ill person is by electroshock therapy that WHOOPS caused them to lose their memories and then her husband's like you know what let's not tell her about the thing that we think caused the mental illness and then everything will be good! and great! and wonderful!

and i hate it.

because makoto + co. are making the same assumption nagito does, which is that now that they're remnants they are beyond saving in their current form so we're just going to regress them and cut all of that out of them and give them a reboot so they become the people we want them to be.

and, like, yes, we learn that the remnants agreed to this so they could try to bring junko back in them, which. you know. (is actually really funny when you think about nagito like if we bring junko back, maybe i get to kill her this time and then he's one of the dead people she would be coming back in, like, sorry, nagito, you'd literally become the person you hate the most.)

but makoto + co. didn't know that. they just forced them into these machines and wiped their memories without their consent and just. went from there. and the game suggests this is a good thing. because that's therapy! and dealing with trauma! to forcibly remove years of memory from your life!

it just makes me so uncomfortable. so uncomfortable.

and makoto's oh, i added a fail safe because i knew something would probably go wrong doesn't make it any better because that doesn't address the core issue. i just. i don't understand how people didn't tell them that this was wrong - or that they didn't realize that this was wrong - especially after having their own memories torn from them. (memories that! they had help! recovering! by the way!)

My Makoto Naegi angst analisis thing (Hc)

(PLEASE KEEP IN NOTE): That this is just my general idea of him, kinda scared to share this cause qjdnnejf I know everyone has different opinions on Makoto so I'm just posting this in my own prespective of him. (It's a little messy cause I am unstable and disorganized when I write this so beware ooo)

Here's the art I made for this

So like, I believe Makoto has issues I think we all established that, and the moment when komaru mentioned of how he changes a lot in UDG (but still hold some same aspects of traits and habits that just makes him.... him) after managed to contact him the first time. It strucks me so bad that it gaves me a migrane /vpos

Like, Makoto earned his new title of the ultimate Hope (with the capital H and everything) just by defeating Junko the ultimate despair? By that point he was seen by the world as the savior and as the first and only hope they have thought lost for YEARS

Makoto's ability to move everyone by just words to which he probably didn't even realised the power he held over it. He's just incredibly passionate and its because his whole body speaks GENUINE emotions, his stubborn willpower and determination undeterred by despair and everything Junko herself has set up for.

It is something not everyone has the luxury to have. His optimism. But that's the thing.

Makoto was the ultimate Hope, only because he was just optimistic in nature. It was the flock of the moment during the last trial, his contagious optimism is what everyone, his friends, the world, preceives as Hope. The enlighting feeling of inspiration by just words of support and motivations for the first time since years after the tragedy started.

But again. Thats the thing. The "Hope" they admire, they clung onto, they worshipped, and they DIE for, was his mere optimistic nature. Just like he said himself "Optimism is all I'm best at".

Its cause well, it's true. (Kinda)

All he was ever good at in his view was just being that. When I rewatched future arc I sense how unBEARABLY useless he is without that title and usual positive nature, and his words don't reach the leaders of future foundation from attempting to kill one another (aside from certain ones, and at the very end ofc, but even then it was too late to prevent the deaths). His words doesnt even managed to reach Ryota from preventing him in using the Hope brainwash video.

It just further shows how.... normal he is

Despite the title, it just shows that he is nothing but a normal guy. He's not some god everyone preceives him to be, he's just some dude that was placed in a wrong time and place.

It's like all the good he is being- well, normal. Like typical "good kid". Somehow it kinda hurts to think about it, like you're obligated to see all positive in lives for it as everyone depends on you for such.

And now the whole world was in the palm of his hands.

I feel like he's scared, despite his strong stand and brave, determined face, he is a normal, ordinary guy that scared to lose what he was ever good and seen by everyone as. Being optimistic and hopeful.

Its like he's not allowed to even be sad for a moment to cry his hearts out. Because the world depends on him, his friends depends on him, he rely on them too much, he cant lose hope cause if he does, the world will fall apart AGAIN, and people will die AGAIN (just like his classmates, just like the people who died for him) he doesnt think he can handle that the second time.

Since that one thing Makoto despises the most is violence. Death to be exact.

He was probably exhausted but he cant yet, he has to keep moving forward, for the world's sake, his friends' sake, his only remaining family; his sister's sake, and for the sake of those who had died so he can carry out their hope that was left behind.

Theres also this quote that remind me of him:

"I'm scared that the moment I look like I'm suffering. Noone will believe me anymore"

Because like. He really cant do things as much without his friends. All he has was his hope; his positivity, determination, and optimistic nature. So he stood tall, facing despair, putting up a strong look just so people of the world, and his friends know, that they all can trust him. To have faith in him.

Because being optimistic is all he's best at.

That hope he has held dearly was destroying him internally. Scary thing is it? Despair isnt what was breaking him. It was the very thing that he was good at. And the very thing everyone thought of when they see him.

Just like junko when you think about it. She- ultimate despair, destroyed herself by the very thing she is (basically executed herself in the last trial) and now makoto was doing the same thing.

"The world's hope", "the strongest who never falters at the face of despair", "the savior", "their guiding light"

How much longer should he keep that up? Before everyone realised that he's nothing but just an ordinary, plain, boring guy?

How much longer should he fall before allowing himself to hit the ground?

A sprout who never truly managed to grow old, it's choose to shelter other by it's leaves, holding still, unmoving.

Yet its roots slowly rotten by parasites and disease, trying to keep the earth together. They can't die now, they're the protector, the hope of it all. <-(quote by one of my friend Ele, which I think is neat in itself, considering Naegi's name means sappling or seedling in general ajdhwjdj)

He may have survived the first killing game that birth his title as the Ultimate Hope,

He may have survived the second killing game in the Neo world program that shows us how devastated it must be for Makoto that Nagito would go that far for the sake of hope, how Makoto's words and hope does not reach the remaining survivor,

He may survived the third killing game in the Future Foundation where it must be devastating that he's unable to understand the victims fully from preventing them to try and kill eachother off ("don't try pretending you understand them, you don't understand them at all" kinda feel), where he watched as Kyoko died for his hope, not telling him THAT she will die, letting him live because not only that he was the closest friend she ever has, but knowing her; she thinks that the world still need the ultimate hope, and because of that, she was ready to accept her fate for it, because she was assured that Makoto is strong enough to move forward even when it's hard, because she has faith in him. Because she believes that Makoto will never give up Hope.

Eventhough he had survive countless scenarios where he could die anytime of those. I feel like eventhough he had survived multiple times.. he had died, multiple times as well, to become who he is now (multiple rebirth symbolism). To the point where he is unrecognizable in his own eyes, the feeling of the old him far out of reach, who is he now?

Things are so simple to him back then, why does things don't make sense to him about himself now?

He may never feel lonely outside, because he believes that his friends will always have his back, he believes that there will always be someone that could give him a hand.

But here, in his own mind, in his own exhaustion, in his own struggle, in his own confusion, he is completely all alone. This one is his alone to go through, his friends has too much on their plate already to handle this, he relied on them too much already.. (in a way, perhaps, he try to rely on others less).

Theres soooo many I wanna say about him but this is the general idea of my view on him, or er, version ig? His accidental savior complex that is.

And don't make me start of his self-sacrificial tendency. /lh

fem rei <3

sn0wbro: I’VE COME TO MAKE A DECREE KING PRIDEMOOR IS A BITCH ASS MOTHER FUCKER, He pissed on my fucking mom. That’s right, he took his royal dick out and he said his dick was “THIS BIG”, and i say that’s discusting. So i’m making a callout post on my twitter.com. King Pridemoor, you have a small dick, it’s the size of Tinker Knight excpet way smaller and guess what, this is how my dong looks like! *PWOOOSH!!* That’s right baby, all gold, no relics, look at that it looks like 2 orb and a shovel. He fucked my mom so guess what, i’m gonna fuck the valley. This is what you get, MY SUPER GOLDEN PISS!! Except that i’m not gonna piss on the valley, i’m gonna go higher! I’m pissing on the MOOOOON!! How you like that Cardia, i pissed on the moon you IDIOT! You have 23 hours before the piss DROPLETS, hit the fucking valley, now get out of my sight before i piss on you too!

I’VE COME TO MAKE A DECREE

KING PRIDEMOOR IS A BITCH ASS MOTHER FUCKER,

Akane, I know it wouldn't help saying that...you were brainwashed and you didn't know what you were doing nor could you stop. But...they probably know that it wasn't really you in control. At least, you wouldn't do that on normal circumstances.

Bwaaaaaahhh! *hic, hic* Bwaaaaahh!

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...................

It's okay. Let it all out Akane, let it alllll out...

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*hic*......*hic*....*sniff*......

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Does it feel good? To finally let all that out? Not only your memory as a remnant, but the trauma and hardships you had to endure at such a young age?

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*sniff, sniff* A....A bit....?

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Good.

Now, it is important to remember that that wasn't really you.

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But...But it was me-

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Not it wasn't. That was only to brainwashed monster that Junko had infected to do her bidding just as the rest of your friends.

You've told me about yourself Akane. How you did everything in your power just to ensure the safety and protection of your younger siblings. How you tried to stop Monokuma all by yourself. And how you griefed when Nekomaru was taken from you...

That is you, Akane. A kind, selfless woman who will do anything to protect her friends and family.

While it can be said that you shouldn't do that all the time, as your life is just as precious...

But those traits are what define you as...you. The real you....and I'm sure your siblings know that as well.

The road ahead may be dangerous and filled with thorns, but I believe you can be up to the task. To try and live for their stake.

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........................*Akane wipes her face*

Yeah.....yeah I....think you're right....Thank Miss Miaya....

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You're welcome Akane.

The "You're all secretly war criminals" thing is a pretty epic twist the first time playing. But like...it's an absolute mess when you really think about the sheer number of logistical issues Junko should have faced if we go with the fandom idea that "brainwashing was just a retcon" and that she successfully manipulated each of them with pure charisma. To begin with, people severely underestimate how much work it would actually take to turn a relatively normal (if a little eccentric in the case of Class 77) person into a monster on the level of the Remnants of Despair. Like this is WAY beyond anything Junko was doing in DR1's Killing Game. Manipulating someone to commit a murder is one thing. I'm not denying that it's entirely possible for Junko to have done that to them. Manipulating them into having a complete breakdown and killing their families? Trickier, but not entirely outside the realm of possibility. Manipulating them to keep on killing over and over again, become addicted to the sensation, carry out all sorts of other depraved acts, and wage a forever war on humanity, with the determination of a literal machine? That's gonna take a LOT of work. Like years of work. To put things into perspective, the Nazi gas chambers were implemented as a more efficient extermination method, because it was discovered that quite a few guards found it difficult to pull the trigger on Jewish prisoners themselves. That was with an entire decade's worth of anti-Semitic propaganda building up to the Holocaust. Junko meanwhile did not have a decade. She had a year. Less than a year actually. On top of getting things ready for the Class 78 Killing Game, manipulating Kamukura, Matsuda, and the Warriors of Hope, and keeping up appearances as a regular class member, we're expected to believe that she was able to corrupt all of Class 77-B to that degree as a FUCKING SIDE PROJECT within about 9-10 months? Not just doing it to one person, but to 14 people altogether. And all the while this was done without Kyoko or Makoto or Matsuda or Jin Kirigiri noticing ANY unusual shifts in those students' behavior. Which would require the Remnant versions of people like Teruteru, Ibuki, Akane, etc. to have insane acting skills up until the Reserve Course destroyed most of the school. I get that the Despair Video thing felt kind of lazy. I personally would have gone with a brainwashing methods that was less OP and slower acting. But like...literal mind control really is the most straightforward explanation. The "charismatic Junko" interpretation is completely inconsistent with the level of competence she displayed in DR1. Someone brilliant enough to create the Remnants of Despair with a silver tongue alone would not have their Killing Game derailed by something like Sakura's sacrifice. And it requires some ridiculous characterization for Class 77-B. We have real life examples of attempted spree shooters who gave up and turned themselves in after killing family members, because they realized they didn't actually have the guts to become a mass-murderer. There would have to be at least one such "failed Remnant" who crashed and burned like that among those 14 if they behaved like actual human beings and not goddamn robots. People try to chalk this up to the SDR2 cast coming from broken homes and shit. But I mean come on. So did a good chunk of the DR1 cast, and they spent an entire year in isolation with Junko. They would have gone insane just by being in proximity to her for so long if she was that charismatic.

goddd you get it. you literally understand it all. it was cool when it was first revealed but it's just so. Weird. when you think about it. like this is just some teenager. some random teenager created a cult and basically ended the world in the span of less than a year .i get what they were going for but it feels like a lot of the time the characters bend to fit whatever's going on in the plot... it aint consistent 💀

How’s Ibuki?

Okay I'll start off with Ibuki Mioda; I would say that while she is cheerful, friendly, outgoing and has good parents - she does have a mental condition.

Wait... Ibuki has a mental condition?

Indeed, it's ADHD or Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and it's unmedicated and no, if asking - her parents couldn't get the medication because it's illegal here - in fact I even say she gets along pretty well with her parents.

I see... Ibuki did mention that her parents aren't bad at all but if that's the case... it must be challenging.

It is, there were thoughts of leaving the country to get this medication but Ibuki wanted to stay because of her band, mostly she say that it was due to creative differences but in reality I do think Ibuki was lonely and just wanted friends, she even got accepted into Hope's Peak...

As for Mikan,... well I'm sure your aware of her background, right?

Not...really, all I know is that Hiyoko really doesn't like her but I didn't know why and she just tripped over herself, I just... figure that was just her being her...

Well sadly for Mikan, her life is filled with tragedy and trauma that I think Hiyoko wasn't even aware of or never care; she had a whore of a mother who constantly whored her out, her clients use her for sex, ask her take off her clothes and other favors.

Even at school, she was bullied for it; often doing favors for them, wanting to be useful that she develop a lot of issues even going to the point of being an attention seeker, especially her athazagoraphobia.

Athazagoraphobia? What is that...?

The fear of being forgotten; she was so scared of it that she would do anything for attention - even going into compromising positions to get attention, even bad attention as she can't tell the difference and given Hiyoko's hatred for those that lie and deceitful people.

To put it simply, Hiyoko and Mikan enable each other to be their worse selves and the 2 never got to understand each other because of it.

...I never even notice, it's no wonder.

A Family Picture

I think I found my favorite kiddie cartoon ever.

They said that Yokai Watch is Gintama for kids but who needs Yokai Watch anymore when you can have Snack World.