I screwed up and forgot to set the poll to go live at the same time as the video haha oopsies! :) The final P5R Confidant Poll is now LIVE! Link: www.patreon.com/posts/final-p5r-poll-79533716?

Funny thing about Kaneshiro. He's not actually a Yakuza, and he is a Mafia boss ... by Japan's standards. Here's the thing about the Yakuza. As a concept and an institution, the Yakuza have been around for centuries and have very strict traditions and hierarchies. Yes, they are criminal organizations, and by Western interpretations, that makes them Mafia. However, Mafia in Japan don't have as much tradition behind them, and thus are not considered Yakuza. It's like comparing Mafia and Street Gangs. Sure, they're both criminal organizations, but how they approach hierarchy and discipline is quite different to the point where the two terms produce different mental images. Note, there is an actual Yakuza later in the game, AND he is referred to as such in both Japanese and the English localization. Kaneshiro is NEVER referenced as being Yakuza, because he isn't one. He's is a Mafia, or "Hangure" in Japanese. LASYVIRGILLIA does a much better job of explaining this in her video "Persona 5's Villains are REAL (Japanese Context of each Palace Ruler)". I highly recommend checking it out if you're interested in the cultural context that might be less obvious to a Western audience.

I actually like that the Phantom Thieves don’t have a personal relationship with Kaneshiro. It helps sell the idea that they’re ideologically opposed to Kaneshiro rather than just trying to settle a personal grudge or grievance.

“move your arms” -can only bob head up & down- 😭😭😭

Gluttony represents waste. The fact that all he wanted to do is accumulate money but no real plans for it makes him the perfect Avatar of Gluttony.😂

Honestly though, one of the parts that bothered me the most about this particular arch is how they handled Makoto's place within the Phantom Thieves (even if it is a less big issue than how nothing Kaneshiro was). In general I think P5 fumbled its group (not necessarily the characters in it) pretty hard, and this is where it really starts to become obvious to me. Makoto for most of the game is pushed as the smart one with the group, but I think that was an absolutely horrible way to put her character into the group, both because I think Makoto really isn't the super genius they really want her to be, and because Morgana already filled that role perfectly fine. Makoto for the whole arch leading up to her joining the phantom thieves, in my opinion, was defined by how reckless and naive she was. The whole point of most of the events characterizing her in this arch was that she had a sense of justice in her mind that she slowly realized just wasn't true, and that if she wanted to enforce it, she's going to have to be okay breaking some rules in the process. Everything she did to try and catch the phantom theives, down to the request to do it in the first place, was reckless and naive on her end, and I think that those were the defining parts of her character as they relate to the group dynamic until she actually joined the group. The reason she took the request from Kobayakawa was because he was an authority figure, and she assumed that she should listen to them without question, a very direct way to show how naive her sense of justice was. Then there's some of the things she actually did to catch the thieves, mainly when she figured out it was Joker, her way of doing something about it was by going directy to him and telling him exactly what proof she had gathered about him. Which from her perspective was a stupid as all hell decision to make. Because she didn't know for sure that the phantom thieves were actually trying to be good, and when they have some unknown force (to her) that can get people on their side, telling them upfront that you can get them arrested is an incredibly stupid idea, but she did it anyways. And then the way she actually helped the group in the first place was LITERALLY by walking up to gang members and asking to talk to their manager. Every plan she made was incredibly reckless and ill concieved, and then the game just all of a sudden turns around and asks us to think she's the smart one. And then every way they try to use to justify her being the smart one of the group is either something that Morgana could've easily said (and debatably been more in character for him in practically every instance), or in some cases something Morgana outright already said that the group is going to proceed to awe over Makoto saying anyways. Even her design fits more with the reckless bruiser role it feels like she should be in more than the smart one. Just, wow I really think they butchered Makoto's role in the group dynamic HARD, even if it does get better later on.

I wanna defend my boy kaneshiro for a bit and mention just how tied tokusatsu is to persona 5s archs. Kaneshiro is literally the villian youd get when you introduce your silver/gold ranger. All the focus should be on "look at this shiny person and their cool weapon youre prolly gonna buy" . and Queens awakening was really good.

While I do agree on Kaneshiro being the worst palace ruler in P5, I have a question on your idea that Kobayakawa would be better suited as one. How would taking his heart contribute to the PT’s goal of shooting for even bigger targets and their overall popularity?

Honestly, this video is amazing. Just because it points out the dumb bathhouse scenes. Sure, there are other reasons that this video is amazing but they pale by comparison. -This post was written by the anti-bathhouse fanservice scene club

Kamoshida: treated his students as slaves Madarame: kept his pupil to know about his mother's death Kaneshiro: M O N E Y 🦀

22:38 it doesnt. this is a common misconception

i agree with how kaneshiro is really nothing. he is especially forgettable without an actual shown change of heart in the real world. I actualy forgot what his real world version looked like. beacause he comes off much more a caricature, he really didnt feel all that threatening to me. Kobayakawa wouldve been so much better, i guess maybe atlus didnt want to make another palace owner someone at shujin. i also thought that the cheesy flashbacks to things we already remember were especially bad with the "useless" part lol. your videos are great! i really like your p5 reviews, keep up the good work!

Planning to watch this later, VERY excited for a new Macca! Btw if you wanna be a vtuber you gotta Atleast suck down 57 glizzy’s in a row, I don’t make the rules.

Finally thank you for doing a good job in talking about Makoto’s character. People just use their basic reading comprehension and says she’s just average and blank, boring.

4:09 I found out that he is not required

That dungeon OST though

So excited for the next minth😊

Rivers in the Desert cover when???

Bro said Blooming Villain is mid, to be fair, I didnt like it at first but it grew on me fast

hate to break it to you macca, you ain't a vtuber... you're a RANTSONA!

hi

Chihaya needs to win I am number 1 chihaya fan I love chihaya

I think the only song i actually dislike in Persona 5 is Keeper of Lust, idk it doesn't really hook me in for a good fight like Take Over or Last Surprise

y he ourple?

What is this video supposed to be about? It's all over the place but I still like it. Maybe it's the title throwing me off

Finally, someone else agrees that takeover is overrated and worse than last surprise

Thaaaaaank you! This is where I started to tire a bit of the main plot - he's a characture and a lot of ths villains have this problem.

😳 P R O M O S M

Man you really hate this game huh?

Good(?) news, you aren't a vtuber. Bad news, you have a rantsona, which were pretty cheesy the instant they first showed up lmao