Click Here for Update 69
: “It’d spell the end of this country if kids started wanting to become more like the Phantom Thieves. You’re already in your second year of high school. You should have a clear vision of your future.”
: “If you’re looking for safety and stability, a civil servant is a good option. Hey, Kurusu. I bet you think that civil service is all office work… but the fishermen of Nagaragawa are actually civil servants as well. So, tell me which sector they belong to.”
: A bit of context here. Nagaragawa is a river in Gifu City, and the fishermen there used to be (and technically still are) the Emperor’s official fishermen. They use a special method called “ukai” which involves the use of trained cormorants to catch fish - the birds are stopped from swallowing them via snares around their necks.
: The practice has been criticized for being cruel to the birds, and I can see why.
: “Oho… I’m impressed you knew that. Only the cormorant fishermen of Nagaragawa are officially used by the imperial household. Those fishermen are granted spots on the Imperial Household Agency’s Board of Ceremonies.”
: “That said, you can’t break into that industry even if you wanted to since it’s a hereditary occupation. If you want a government job, try for a spot in the Diet - though some may say that’s hereditary too.”
: Just imagine being the person whose parents go “It’s time for you to learn the family trade of using a bunch of angry cormorants to fish and then picking the fish out of their gullets.”
: “I’m honestly fed up with politicians these days. Isn’t there anyone who seriously wants to improve this country?”
: “Oh yeah, they said on the news that the cabinet’s approval rating went down again. They’re the complete opposite of us. Our popularity and approval have been going through the roof.”
: “Oh? I’m the first one here?”
: “Yep, you’ve got 'em all beat.”
: “I see… actually, this may have been a stroke of good luck - there’s something that I want to discuss with you.”
: “Mmhm.”
: “What’s the situation?”
: “I’ve been thinking - I want to be more helpful to the Phantom Thieves. So I came up with a new approach to fighting in hopes of making it a regular strategy in our battles… but I need your help to make it happen, Mona-chan.”
: “Oho! Me, eh? Well, if you need me, then who am I to turn you down?”
: “Thank you!”
: I’m going to have to borrow footage again, because I could not get Haru’s showtime to proc and the next time we’d have a chance isn’t until November.
: In hindsight, I probably should’ve thought of just removing everyone who isn’t Haru or Morgana from the party. Anyway, their Showtime is called “Drive Hard” (a reference to Die Hard) in English and Best Night Kid (a reference to The Karate Kid, which was used for Ann and Yusuke’s Showtime in English instead) in Japanese.
: I think this is also the only Showtime where I like the English name better.
: I am very glad you never really see that facial expression on Haru because it looks like she’s trying to be Tatsuya Sudou.
: It’s hard to see in screenshots, but she’s firing rockets out of her grenade launcher. I was EXTREMELY disappointed that she didn’t attempt to ride the rockets like Dante.
: This Showtime is by far the shortest one, and also probably the least interesting visually. I mean, Morgana’s barely even in it.
: “Haru… sometimes, the stuff you come up with honestly scares me.”
: “Oh… it’s absolutely fine if you don’t want to…”
: “Not another word - I’ll do it! You deserve only the grandest of performances!”
: “…Great! Thank you, Mona-chan! I wonder if the Star will grant us our wish…”
: I have to wonder now if this happens every time someone comes up with a Showtime - did Joker just randomly have his pocket glow during the last couple of these scenes?
: “But she’s new to the team, right? Shouldn’t we do what we did for Yusuke and Makoto?”
: “Ah, you mean the Phantom Thief Basic Training. There’s much we need to teach her.”
: “Please do!”
: The basic training is just watching a bunch of anime.
: “Someone’s excited.”
: “Then again, I already told her about the gist of things. What other stuff should we talk about…?”
: “Oh, about how we defeated my fiance in there… will that have any effect on my father?”
: Something we’ll see in a bit with the boss fight is that the whole “Escape to Utopia” thing is a metaphor for Okumura’s political ambition, and one thing I wondered was why they couldn’t have just brainfucked Haru’s fiance in Mementos or something.
: I mean, it wouldn’t do anything about Haru’s dad being Dessler, but it would effectively stop the marriage, and also probably his political ambitions.
: “Nope. They did something similar in my Palace, but I’m perfectly fine.”
: “I-Is that so…?”
: “That might have just been a coincidence. Usually cognitive people look totally different. The version of me in Kamoshida’s castle was terrible.”
: “Ah, and the version of me at the museum was a painting, not even a person.”
: “Now that you mention it, why isn’t there a cognitive version of me? Is it somewhere in there?”
: This dialog wasn’t changed for Royal, and in the base game, there was no cognitive Haru. In Royal, however…
: “Well, I could imagine a couple of reasons why we haven’t seen it… but I don’t think you’d like them.”
: “…”
: “Come on, don’t think about that stuff. Anyways, if a dude’s cognition can change the scenery or even the people in the Palace…”
: It’s like the writers don’t want you to know that Persona 1 existed.
: “Man, Palaces are super promising! My greatest hopes and dreams might still come true! Well, that’s kinda impossible this time, hehehe… but maybe we should try in the future?”
: I mean, that’s basically what the Thieves Den is.
: sigh “…In any case, if Haru followed that conversation, there’s nothing else we need to teach her.”
: “All right, let’s do this!”
: “We will entrust this to you, Haru.”
: “If he notices the calling card, then yes. Are you afraid of doing this to your own father?”
: “To be honest… a little.”
: “Try to recall your anger. It will guide you in the right direction.”
: “…So we’re carrying out this plan tomorrow?”
: “All right. No stayin’ up late tonight then.”
: We can’t do anything else tonight, so let’s play some games. First though, if you are playing this yourself, SET THE DIFFICULTY TO MERCILESS. Right now. Do it.
: The reason we want to do this is because the upcoming boss fight was re-balanced for Royal, and is pretty broken. It’s actually easier on Merciless than it is on Normal.
: “Something about trying to become the sixth Phoenix Ranger… I don’t know much about the TV series, but this looks like a game you can really sink your teeth into! Let’s become a Phoenix Ranger!”
: “Whoa, they really know how to get you pumped up! Is this… a lab? That person in front of the computer looks like a scientist.”
: “Training, huh… I guess you can’t become a hero if you don’t put in the effort.”
: This game gives you a series of inputs to memorize, and then makes you repeat it with a time limit. There’s a book you can get at some point (I think it might be available now, actually) that makes these easier, and I’m not sure how it affects this game.
: “Oh, the scenery changed. Hmm… is this a waste disposal facility?”
: This is, of course, a blatant reference to Innocent Sin.
: “So this training is preparing us for real combat. All right, let’s get the Abberant!”
: “…This guy’s pretty chipper about being a threat to the planet’s safety, huh?”
: “Here it comes! Get your controller ready!”
: “This is our chance! Wind Punch!”
: “Oh yeah! A big win! Hey, we’re back in the laboratory.”
: “Your success and global fame exists due to the tyranny you rain over your employees. Thus, we have decided to make you confess all your crimes with your own mouth. Hmph.”
: Sae is off in that cafe somewhere screaming “Damn that John Persona! I’m gonna find that John Persona, and when I do…”
: “…I must take care of this before it becomes a problem.”
: “Don’t make me repeat myself. Give it to the police. That’s an order. These scoundrels have threatened me. Aren’t the police supposed to side with law-abiding citizens?”
: I like to think the person on the other end replies: “Uh, sir? The calling card is physically in your hand. I can’t give it to the police if I don’t actually have it.”
: This was pretty much my reaction to the FF7 remake. I tried it just now and I think the combat is boring.
: “This matter is urgent. Take care of it at once.”
: “I need to let everyone know about this…”
: And now, let’s completely break the pacing by having one of Kawakami’s free time events.
: Destiny Land is a location that has not been in a Megami Tensei game since the original Shin Megami Tensei. In SMT 1, it was a location you’d visit a lot because it was the easiest way to adjust your alignment. It was also where you met up with Pascal after the apocalypse.
: Interesting fact I didn’t know about it, there were cut sprites in the SNES version of SMT 1 for an evil Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.
: “It’s a hugely popular spot that’s great for families and even going on dates… I could never go there myself though. You have to invite someone or it’d just be too lonely.”
: “You should invite someone to go there with you sometime. Oh, don’t go without me!”
: “This is different from normal. He has some nerve, delivering the calling card to the police himself.”
: “Either he’s certain his heart won’t be changed, or he’s colluded with the police from the beginning…”
: “As strange as it is for me to say… I could see that being the case.”
: “They’re just saying whatever they want. At this point all they care about is seeing those in power beg for forgiveness.”
: “Dammit! This isn’t a game!”
: I mean, it kinda is.
: “The means and the ends have been reversed. We’re starting to be seen purely as entertainment…”
: “But we gotta do this! We can’t just drop everything now!”
: “Considering the existence of the Palace, his desires are indeed distorted… in a sense, the earlier we pull the root, the better…”
: “And given the issue concerning Haru’s fiance, we don’t have another choice in the matter…”
: You do though, provided that the fiance exists in Mementos.
: “If we don’t… then everything we been doin’ up until now would just be for nothing!”
: “I believe this is best too. After hearing my father speak… I saw no remorse in him.”
: “Ryuji and Haru are right. Honestly, everything the public is talking about does bother me a little… but Okumura may just be the one behind the mental collapses. We can’t leave this be.”
: “I feel like he’s hiding something. Something big…”
: “True… and we already sent the calling card, after all.”
: I feel like they really could’ve cut down on a lot of this exposition.
: “Is that… the frisbee Skull mentioned before? That’s what they’re making here!?”
: “The SS Utopia!?”
: “Project: Escape to Utopia… so this is what that was about.”
: “Father did say he was going to ascend into the political world…”
: “So even this company is a stepping stone for him… he will discard this place for his ‘utopia’…”
: “Wait up… if he gets outta here, we’re not gonna be able to make him tell us about the shutdowns!”
: “You’re right… we gotta hurry! I think we can go further in now!”
: And now we’ve gone from Final Rush to Metal Harbor.
: Seriously though, this is less Dessler and more Dreamcast-era Robotnik. I’m expecting Joker to pull out a pair of soaps any minute now.
: “There’s no time! We need to hurry!”
: “Over here!”
: We’re now on a 10-minute timer to get up to where Okumura went, and there’s enemies all over these narrow platforms.
: There’s a chest here, but we can get that later without the enemy being in the way.
: “No way! We ain’t got time for that! We gotta plow through 'em!”
: This part is pretty badly signposted, especially if you played the base game. In the base game, you had to go down this hallway and there were three mandatory encounters in it.
: “Are you even thinking!? If we use up all of our energy now, we may as well toss our entire plan!”
: “Hold on, guys! Calm down.”
: If the boss fight was still identical to the base game’s, I would have no problem killing everything in this corridor. However, that’s not the case.
: “Nothing’s blocking our path now - all we need is a way to get over there. Hey, Joker! See any spots you can use your grappling hook on?”
: If we instead run back out and go up to where that chest was, a grappling point mysteriously appears. This isn’t here if you come up here before entering the hallway.
: “Father…”
: “Haru, you were always so agreeable. Whether it was in school or after, you only ever did as I said… you’ve become so admirable…”
: “What’s gotten into him?”
: “Ah yes. Do you remember, Haru? You cried your eyes out when my work kept me from attending your first sports day. It was then that you stopped talking back to me.”
: “Honestly… you had me worried. Still, you stood up against me and became an independent young woman… nothing could make a father happier than seeing that!”
: “You still remember something that happened so long ago? Back then, you poured your heart into making delicious food. You wanted to bring joy to others… why did you change?”
: “F-Forgive me, Haru… but I would never last if my Treasure was stolen! Please don’t do it, I’m begging you!”
: Haru is probably the least genre-savvy person in this game.
: This is so fucking stupid.
: " ‘Overcome failure at any cost, even if it means betraying others’… that is our family motto! The cold reality of kicking people down is part of business! Virtues and sentiment are for losers."
: “What happiness can be found in acting with justice but losing the battle?”
: “What happiness can be found through profit gained by crushing the hearts of others!?”
: “Better that than fail! I’d much rather destroy others than wallow in the misery of debt! Regardless, I shall soon set sail into the political realm.”
: From a writing perspective, making Okumura cartoonishly evil was a mistake. We’ll see why right after the fight’s over.
: “Make your decision, Haru. If you cast them away, I’ll let you join me on this ship. Stay, and you will be incinerated along with this entire base. Now then, what is your choice!?”
: “What about you there? Don’t you want to get out of here alive? Want to board my ship? You’re fighting against the others, are you not?”
: “Hmph. So you were spying on us.”
: “You’ll gain nothing by staying with them… that’s what you believe, isn’t it? You are absolutely right. Sell them out! Cut them off for your own personal gain! I’ll even give you the switch once we take off.”
: What’s kind of funny to me in hindsight about this scene is that Lupin III does something almost identical in Part 5, which didn’t come out until 2018.
: The difference there is that the evil CEO is basically Mark Zuckerberg and has used the power of Facebook (in AI form) to try to entice Goemon to break up with Lupin.
: “So, do we have a deal? I’ll give you ten seconds. Time is money, after all.”
: Like the pizza burger, or a consolized Naomi 2.
: Joker could probably just break out of that field with Mara.
: “Hope you like balls, Okumura, because you’re about to get really close to some of mine!”
: We’re now put on a 30-minute time limit. The timer ticks down constantly, unless you are switching Personas.
: In the base game, this fight consisted of Okumura summoning random robots - he’d always start with a wave of these ones, then would progress to the bigger ones like the Chief Clerk, Section Director, and Chief Director.
: Reason one why this fight sucks. Royal changed it so that Okumura will direct his robots to attack a single target. He has lines for every character:
: “The obnoxious blonde one!” (Ryuji)
: “The slutty-looking woman in red!” (Ann)
: “That…bizarre, black-and-white thing!” (Morgana)
: “The barbaric, dark-haired woman!” (Makoto)
: “The oddball with the fox mask!” (Yusuke)
: “The pompous man in the black coat!” (Joker)
: Even if you knock all the enemies down, you do not get an All-Out, presumably because Okumura is still… sitting.
: Reason two this fight sucks in Royal: it adds a Gamilian Haru to the fight.
: “Huh!? M-Me!?”
: “Basically… that’s my father’s cognitive version of me…”
: “Hey guys, don’t let this get to you! Just remember: once we take Okumura down, it’ll all be over. Let’s wrap this up quick!”
: “Even more!?”
: “Happiness based on the sacrifices of others isn’t true happiness…!”
: Oh, right. This part is from an earlier cut where I was playing on Normal. I should also explain why you want do this fight on Merciless.
: I’ve explained this before, but Merciless works by increasing enemy damage by 60% (to 1.6x) and decreasing the damage you do by 35% (it was 15% in the base game).
: However, Merciless also greatly increases the multiplier for critical hits and elemental weakness hits - I think in Normal it’s 2x, whereas in Merciless it’s 3x. Therefore, assuming you’re hitting elemental weaknesses, you’ll actually do more damage than you would otherwise.
: On Merciless, this would have instakilled the robots.
: I really like the visual effect for Psiodyne and Mapsiodyne.
: At this point, Okumura will begin debuffing the party’s defense and buffing the robots.
: One thing I neglected to mention earlier is that the Chief Clerk has a second weakness - that being Nuclear.
: Again, on Merciless, this would’ve been a one hit kill. We’re about to see where this fight starts to suck.
: Another round of buffs and debuffs. Now, in the base game, you have all the time you want to take out the robots - so long as you’re within the time limit, of course.
: My strategy here was pretty simple - have Makoto and Haru remove the robots resistance to Psychic and Nuclear so they can do damage, and then hit them with Panta Rhei and let Makoto and Haru clean up.
: Here’s why this strategy doesn’t work. This is an ability Okumura has called Sacrifice Order.
: Sacrifice Order was an ability Okumura had in the base game, which causes one of the robots to go into a salute. It will then blow up on its next turn, doing damage to the entire party.
: These robots have a shitload of HP, and even after Panta Rhei, a Concentrated Mafreila, and Haru and Ann using Mapsio and Maragion, we can’t take the fuckers down.
: This is from my first take still, so I think I had only actually used Panta Rhei once before determining it didn’t really do enough damage to justify the SP cost.
: The speedrun gets past this part by spamming Cyclone Magatamas, which will hit weakness and still initiate a Baton Pass even though they’re an item.
: Okay, that’s bad, but I can still fix that. These robots are fucking dead on the next turn.
: Wait, what?
: This? This right here is why this fight fucking sucks in Royal. If you don’t kill all four robots (or at least, the three that don’t have Sacrifice Order on them) the remaining robots will run, and Okumura will summon another wave.
: Unlike Madarame’s boss fight, there is no mechanic where you can bypass this - he will continue summoning until you kill them all.
: At this point, the fight is no longer winnable. Time to reset and go to Merciless.
: On Merciless, Panta Rhei goes from doing around 350 damage to instantly killing the robots. You can carry over a baton pass from the last wave and use it on Joker to really boost his damage.
: Oh, right. The reason that Merciless works is that the robots only have physical attacks… and since you’re going to be killing them extremely quickly anyway, they won’t get very many off.
: The intended solution for this, as far as I can tell, is that the game expects that you’ve maxed Hifumi’s confidant by this point and can switch party members freely, so you can start with Morgana and then switch him out later.
: This wave is basically identical to the last one, except the robots are bigger blobs of HP.
: Because they’re weak to Psychic, you want to have Haru use Mapsio and then Baton Pass to Joker, who follows up with Mapsiodyne. This part would probably suck if I didn’t have that.
: This is from my second recording, which was also not successful because of a gamble I took and lost. Okumura manages to put Hunger on everyone but Ann, which I’m just able to recover from.
: The Execurobo is the one part of this fight that kinda sucks on Merciless. It has no weaknesses - it’s completely neutral to everything.
: It also oneshots people. There’s an easy workaround for this - Haru knows Tetrakarn, so she can just put it up on whoever the robot is targeting and reflect its attacks.
: Meanwhile, Baal uses One Shot Kill (you can transfer Charge and Concentrate between Personas) and does over half the robot’s HP in one go. We want to use this instead of Ayamur because One Shot Kill has a high crit chance, and can thus bypass the damage reduction on Merciless.
: From this point onward, Okumura will use Big Bang Order on the robot every turn to give it Charge and Concentrate.
: You’re supposed to guard against it, but what happened was that I figured I could get another charged One Shot Kill off and finish the robot off before it could use it. Instead, One Shot Kill didn’t crit and I was just short on damage.
: By the way, there’s a mechanic here the game never explains where if someone gets hit by Hunger, Big Bang Challenge will fully restore their HP and remove the Hunger effect. The problem is that Harisen Recovery will usually kick in by that point.
: On my third run, I start using Tetrakarn, which does work except that Haru still dies to the first Big Bang Challenge. The Execurobo can also put up a magic barrier - which isn’t a big deal because Ann and Joker are both immune to their own magic.
: Finally, we get a Showtime and kill the fucking thing. In the base game, this was where the fight ended.
: “Is that the last of the minions? Let’s finish him, Joker!”
: The Haru-bot is the final fuck you that Royal throws at you in this fight.
: “I can’t believe this guy! A child isn’t some kinda puppet or tool to be used!”
: As far as I can tell, there’s no way to actually kill the Haru-bot. Like the Execurobo, she’s not weak to anything.
: “No way! Okumura’s even willing to sacrifice his own daughter!?”
: “…Everyone, let’s destroy it before it can self-destruct!”
: “But, Noir… that’s…”
: I mean, this might have some impact if you knew that killing the Haru-bot would fuck Okumura up somehow, but it doesn’t, so it doesn’t.
: “I am no longer my father’s subservient puppet! The real me is standing right here, opposing him!”
: The reason I don’t think it’s possible to kill the Haru-bot is that you have exactly two turns to do it. Even with a One-Shot Kill crit from a Persona that is quite literally double the boss’s level (Okumura is level 43) I don’t think you can do enough damage.
: That’s not to say I didn’t try. Ayamur does a shitload of damage, but it’s just not enough. I don’t think it would’ve been enough even on Normal.
: At this point, Okumura can no longer resist us. He won’t do anything, and one hit from anything will kill him. However, given how shit this fight is, I think there’s only one appropriate way to end this.
: “Somebody’s getting bonerslammed!”
: We don’t even give a shit about levels anymore, except for maybe Futaba so she can recover people’s SP. The only thing we give a shit about is money… which is kind of ironic given that we just fought Mammon.
: “I will contact your fiance and rescind the marriage offer. This may be the end for Okumura Foods…”
: “Father…”
: “You were behind all the breakdowns and mental shutdowns, weren’t you?”
: “I admit, I spent large sums of money to help my company grow, and to crush business competitors…”
: “Answer me, dammit! Did you do it or not!?”
: “Requests!? Then there really is a mysterious criminal in people’s Palaces after all!”
: “So it’s true…”
: “What kind of contract did you form… and with whom?”
: “C’mon, stop cryin’ and tell us!”
: The Palace starts breaking apart, even though we don’t have the Treasure yet.
: “Dammit, why now!? Mr. CEO, can’t you stop that thing!? Oh well… we can’t just throw our lives away like this. Look! Up there!”
: “Huh?”
: “There’s one more thing you need to tell us. Have you seen this criminal’s face before?”
: “We don’t got time to get that outta him!”
: “We’ll just have to inquire about it back in the real world.”
: “Don’t worry, he’ll be fine! We’ll end up dead if we’re not out of here soon though!”
: There’s a silenced gunshot from off-screen, and a small explosion of black… which is really hard to see because Desslermura’s outfit is all black.
: This is kind of a plot hole when you consider that the killer would have needed to be in this room (the blast doors closed after we got in) and have done this in the like, ten seconds between when Haru left and when the palace fully collapsed.
: It’s also not entirely clear where they would’ve been hiding. The gunshot comes from the left, meaning that it’s unlikely the killer was hiding behind the ramp… and the rest of the room is wide open.
: “Probably not… actually, I think it’s impossible!”
: “We’re countin’ on ya, Mona!”
: sigh “We did a great job in there.”
: “You know Morgana, you seemed almost normal when you took the Treasure.”
: “Oh? The truth behind the mental shutdowns remains unsolved though. Okumura wasn’t the culprit. Still, he did mention request people to be eliminated. He has to know who’s responsible.”
: Game, I just saw this in the last scene, there’s really no need to point this out again.
: “Mm…”
: “Mom…”
: Futaba has realized that Haru is now a member of the orphan club.
: I was trying to figure out what this said to see if it was a Yamato reference (it definitely is) and got as far as realizing the orange text says “Galaxy” before realizing it says “Galaxy War Series” in English in the top right under the kanji.
: “His Treasure… was a plastic model kit?”
: “What’s the matter?”
: “I remember Father telling me something before he changed… he said there was a model kit he really wanted back when he was a child. But no matter how much he begged my grandfather, he never got it.”
: So wait, this was one of those Paranoia Agent “girl destroys Japan because she lied about her dog” things?
: “Your family could get like, a thousand of those kits though.”
: “Okumura Foods has been around for generations, but it was a small company until my father took over. My grandfather was a good man, but not the best businessman.”
: “He’d even lend money with no collateral… it seems the debt collectors were a frequent presence when my father was young.”
: “That must be why… why Okumura was so willing to pursue his own happiness at the expense of others.”
: “It is a staggering price. I’ve heard this can happen to collector’s items, but still…”
: Welcome to game collecting. This is why I don’t collect games.
: “People’re gonna pay that much for a plastic toy!?”
: “By the way… when exactly is the change of heart supposed to happen?”
: I mean, given how fast it happened in Innocent Sin, he’s probably already braindead. Though naturally, it’ll take Okumura until the 12th to die.
: “Soon. That’s all we know. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens until then. Once he has his change of heart, we’ll surely be able to find out who’s behind the mental shutdowns.”
: “Okumura was not fit for the political world to begin with. He should have just behaved himself… of course. Without fail, sir. I’ve requested that he handle the matter.”
: “Arrangements have been made. A sudden mental shutdown will occur at just the right time. We’ll dispose of our disappointing connection and the Phantom Thieves at once. Two birds with one stone.”
: This is them trying to explain how Okumura’s shadow dies today but he doesn’t actually die until the end of the arc.
: “I was way too worried about who I am, and how I don’t compare to other members of our group. Turns out I just don’t have any guts, huh?”
: “Come on, I’ve known you long enough. No need to be modest. I think the reason I was so hung up on wanting to be human is because I needed a goal of my own.”
: “Well, not a goal per se, but something bigger… I guess more like… a reason to live. But now that I’m sure I belong with the Phantom Thieves, I know what I want to do. Do you know what it is?”
: “Is it being thirsty for Ann? I bet it’s being thirsty for Ann. Giant dicks know these things.”
: It is absolutely my headcanon that Mara can detect horny people from range, and is thus the perfect partner to Joker.
: “That too, eventually. I’m going to do whatever I can to make sure the Phantom Thieves succeed. In other words, our goals are in alignment.”
: “From now on, I’m not going to hold anything back. You’d better put some effort in too! Don’t make me regret my choice!”
: “Plus… I want Lady Ann to be happy. If my actions can help her achieve happiness, that’s more than enough for me…”
: We should still have enough money to cover new equipment at this point. And now, probably the best Caroline and Justine event.
: “Listen closely: the place we wish to evaluate for your rehabilitation is… an odd feature of the city where slaves attend to the needs of visitors.”
: “Apparently, the slaves in this camp refer to visitors as ‘Master,’ and their behavior can even be controlled to some degree.”
: “I wonder how this compares to our devotion for our own master. This could make a strong example for the Inmate. Does such a location sound familiar to you?”
: “Well? If you know where it is, then escort us there immediately!”
: Yes, we’re about to take two little girls to a maid cafe.
: “What is it that makes a cafe ‘made’? Is it the slaves? I wanna find out!”
: “We shall do just that. Inmate, take us there immediately.”
: “I’m surprised one is operating in the heart of the city like this. I had originally thought such places would need to hide in the shadows, far from public scrutiny.”
: “Are you addressing me? You are sorely mistaken about who is your master…”
: “We’ve come here to observe fully, Justine. Don’t worry, we’ll free her when we’re finished. Hey, you.”
: “Tell me, why are you grinning like that? You’re a slave.”
: “Maybe you’re ordered to smile, but what? Do you lack a will of rebellion? Or are you just naturally submissive?”
: Honestly, I’m just imagining Mara teaching Caroline and Justine what horny is in kids terms.
: “You see kids, horny is that thing the cat does when he gets near Ann. You know, right before Joker hits him with the air horn? Well, a maid cafe is a place for horny people. It’s like a treatment center.”
: “It’s safe to say I’m well beyond disliking it!”
: “Calm yourself, Caroline.”
: This cutscene is about to go from zero to sixty.
: “Watch it! You think laughing at your masters is proper discipline?”
: I wish we had her as a party member instead of Makoto.
: Caroline has taught the maid communism and now it is working too well.
: “A-Ahh…”
: Joker immediately grabs the air horn and the maid grabs it out of his hand and crushes it like it’s a piece of paper.
: This scene is good. This is a really good scene. Where the fuck was this kind of attitude when they went back over Hashino’s script?
: “Wh-What is wrong with her… her mood changes in an instant.”
: Caroline has a Tsundere Scouter in her pocket that just shattered from the sheer amount of tsundere coming off the maid.
: “Such versatility… could she possess the potential for the power of the wild card? Well, never mind that. We are to focus on the matter at hand.”
: “Could this be a form of what some call ‘Russian roulette’ ?”
: “We can’t risk the odds of being poisoned. Let’s order something else.”
: “In that case, let’s go with the Sincere Omelette.”
: Joker just looks at the maid and is like “Please no, not the murder eggs” and the maid just grins. She’s going to murder the SHIT out of those eggs.
: "Don’t even try that fake-cry act on me! Fix it! Double time! I’m not letting you off until it’s right!
: “Uh - hey…”
: “How could you make this poor slave cry like that…”
: “Wha-!? Fine, fine, I’ll say I’m sorry! Look, slav- I mean, maid! I’m sorry! I’ll eat it, I’ll eat it! Just… stop crying!”
: “Fine, just bring whatever…”
: “Even the people being served have to behave a certain way… I struggle to comprehend why it’s so complicated.”
: “And yet, people here are willing to pay good money to participate in this master-servant charade… the lengths that humans will go to hold positions of power… their desires truly appear to be limitless.”
: “Anyway, we hereby deem your assignment complete.”
: “Here is your reward.”
: “I feel as though we saw a side of humanity today that was new to us. As a matter of fact… this isn’t a new event to us at this point.”
: “We do seem to witness curious new facets of humanity with each special assignment we undertake. Most intriguing indeed…”
: I forgot there was one of those “Congrats, you progressed the plot” cutscenes and my first thought was this was going to be a scene where Igor learns that you’ve taken the twins to the maid cafe and just goes “You took them WHERE!?”
: “Contrary to our assumptions, it seems you have turned out to be quite promising…”
: “Your powers continue to grow, as do the relationships you hold with your contractors. It seems the rehabilitation is proceeding at a fine rate.”
: “Allow me to warn you on one matter. Being at the peak may mean you are mere moments from your downfall. Unexpected situations are necessary in a ‘game,’ after all.”
: Translation - Hashino is using the standard Hollywood writing format where there needs to be a low point for the protagonist right before the ending. And now, a re-used cutscene.
: “Th-that dream again… what the hell? I-I’m human… I have to be… I… there’s no way I was born like that…”
: “H-Hmph. I won’t let myself get worked up over some dream… I’m sure everything will be clear if we can get to the depths of Mementos…”
: Next time, we’ll do a bunch of confidant events and then get ambushed by a new cutscene proving that Kasumi is indeed Atlus’s Lightning, possibly even moreso than Marie was.
: “I’m starving… but the hunger doesn’t really bother me when I’m playing.”
: “Now, go. I gotta take care of some business with Tsuda. I’ll be there after I handle that. See ya soon.”
: “Stamina is important for public speaking as well. You’re still young, but take care of yourself. I’ll be giving a speech again today. I’d also like you to come with me somewhere after the speech. What’s your availability like today?”
: “I’ve been told that her results at the latest meet were quite laudable… isn’t revoking her status as an honor student a bit of an overreaction on the school’s part?”
: “Stealing hearts? Social reform? Don’t give me this Phantom Thieves nonsense. It’s all so unscientific. I mean, how could they target Big Bang Burger and Okumura Foods? They’re criminals!”
: “I’m sorry, I just now noticed that you tried to reach me. My smartphone seems to be acting up again. You found my good luck charm, right?”
: “It’s my fault…”
: “I can’t… be weak anymore…”
senpai
: “I’ll shmack you if it’s not good enough…”
: “Wow, you guys have actually started getting pretty close. Not like that’s a bad thing though. Anyway, be careful out there.”
: “Oh crap, and you’re with a girl?”
: “Having executed the royalty, the revolutionaries proceeded to take the courts under their control… all who opposed the revolution were executed. However, the revolutionaries, too, were then reviled as despots and executed by the public.”
: “That aside, Okumura Foods has been a hot topic recently. This much media coverage must be worth at least ten million yen.”
: “So, about Dr. Maruki’s counseling… you’ve already gone to see him, right?”
: “What are you watching? gasp That’s-”
: “This is just a hypothesis… but perhaps Okumura was bitten by his lapdog.”
