Persona 5 : Reflection of our society

Persona 5 is a J-RPG released on September 15th 2016 in the land of the Rising Sun and April 4th 2017 in Europe.

In Persona 5 we play as a newly-arrived young teenager in Tokyo after an investigation which cost him his blank criminal record.

In fact we have been accused of physical agression and Murphy's law wants to pin this accusation on us.

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But the subject of this analysis is:

What if the video games were a reflection of our society ?

Persona 5 is a great exemple of this reflection, in fact the contemporary ambiance gives us a look into Japanese society from the best aspects to the hidden worst.

First of all at the beginning of a new game we are really quickly put into the action: a Casino and a pursuit with bad guys who want us dead

The game introduces us speedily into our role: We are Thief.

Some minutes later we are arrested by the police and put in detention into a mysterious underground cell, interrogated by a prosecutor who is interested by us for some reason which will be suddenly revealed by a flashback which tells us our adventure.

Thus we are now on the street of Yogen-Jaya looking our new home: LeBlanc, after some time wandering on the street full of ghostly passer-by, we are in front of the extraordinary - but old - Café where we will meet the manager of Leblanc.

Mocking and at the same time harsh with his words, the manager Sojiro gives us a reminder of our situation: We are a student under supervision and we must avoid problems if we don't want to be put in a rehabilitation house.

It's in the attic on our bed that we discover a mysterious app which installs itself on our smartphone, while not knowing of it's purpose, we fall asleep.

At this moment Igor a man with a long nose announces that the end of the world is near and our rehabilitation is intimately linked to it.

This introduction to Persona 5 shows us what is the situation of the protagonist: Under supervision with a stained reputation who will follow him during the whole game.

In fact, it's more than a simple refresher, the game brands us, no choice leads us there but the message is clear: Society will brand us in one way or another no matter the choice we made in the past the people will judge you.

This introduction into the story can be put in parallel with Watch Dogs 2 or Sleeping Dogs where the character that we embody is portrayed in the margins of the society with all his vices.

In Watch Dogs 2 we play as a underground gang of hackers who act unscrupulousless in order to hack the systems of San-Francisco which provide security to it's residents.

In Sleeping Dogs we are an undercover police agent in Hong-Kong's Triad. Our protagonist is in a familiar universe not because he is on the side of the law but because he grew up in the world crime.

In fact 3 of these games show us the importance of character introduction especially when the characters are the protagonist of the story. Thus when we know who we embody in the story and how the others see him, we have a vision of what the character feels face to his world.

Some days later in modern-day Tokyo and we are now at Shujin's Student Academy and everything from now-on will be more complicated...

Indeed on our first day of school we are pulled into another universe with another student who will be our next fellow thief of our adventure: Ryuji.

This world is named: The Metaverse, a place where all the repressed desires are retained.

At this moment of the game, we are pushed into the RPG turn-based gameplay with all the mechanics which

function so well.

In fact we are quickly introduced to the mechanics and the turn-based combat system by Morgana, another ally who teaches you normal actions like attack, defense, use firearm, items... But he puts emphasis on the Personas who reveal themselves to be indispensable allies and he also allows us to use some form of magic.

But a question remains in suspension: What is a Persona ? Why do we have this unique capacity to invoke them ?

But we rapidly find the answer which appears logic and believable: Personas are the representation of rebellion , and who is more representative of that than a protagonist with a branded reputation because of a crime he didn't commit ? It's natural to rebel against that so, in the Metaverse we find ourselves with a Persona.

The game contains a lot of meaning because we are now the master of a world where we can see the worst in society: Adults with repressed desires in the Metaverse who act to fufill in their desires in the real world.

We can notice now the sudden change of rhythm in the game, we are no longer bystanders of society: We are an actor in a world allegorical of society and, more precisely, the worst of it.

To complete my analysis, we will get into a part of the game which is an example of a direct link to a phenomenon common to many societies: Moral harassement.

In the first dungeon of Persona 5 we are in the Metaverse at the same location as the school, which gives us clue about which adult wants to release his desire.

It's with Ryuji, Morgana and after some time, Ann with whom we explore the place, in fact we discover that the PE Teacher; Kamosida is the part of a shady story which mixes blackmailing, physical and sexual agression against the students of Shujin Academy.

Thus we uncover an explanation about the very medieval design of the dungeon in the Metaverse. Indeed, Kamoshida imagines himself as a king since he's in a school where he can act as he wants and sees himself as legitimate because of his status as an old Olympic winner.

But after an adventure, we find that Kamoshida crosses the limit and pushes a student to kill herself.

We can distinguish the interesting elements about what Persona 5 - as video-game - can tell us about society.

First of all it exposes a common scourge of society but more specifically in Japan: Social Pressure Suicide.

Indeed Persona 5 shows the hierarchical dimension of the Japanese education system where the student has less worth than a professor who has power, especially when he has a pretty shiny background. Moreover, he can blackmail anybody in order to hide his crimes.

So the game shows us to which point young Japanese people are vulnerable and weak against that, but somewhere, a part of us births the desire to change the situation and understands that hierarchy can be surpassed by the anger of those who suffer.

Secondly we got a new phenomenon shown by the game: The inversion of the judgment. In-game we are seen as a thug although we haven't done anything wrong, on the other side we see Kamoshida portrayed as a hero.

Kamoshida'sThe thing is, society sees us as a marginal though we are innocent while in situation, this society admires a character who is not exempt of crime.

It's here where we touch on something interesting: In a society, are we judging really correctly the people around us ? In fact, this question comes back a lot in Persona.

This kind of exposition of our society is well represented by Shadowrun Hong-kong where we are put in the role of the killer while being hunted underground by our old comrade or by the still in-development Detroit: Become Human who exposes a form of racism between humans and androids.

These two games shows us with ease, a point of view exagerates about society in order to show in what kind of society we live in.

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With it's story and rythm, Persona 5 achieves in showing us a metaphorical dimension while remaining true to our actual society: A universal reflection.

Even if some elements are exclusive to Japanese society, it stays common of all countries' societies, the exageration, here, plays the role of alarm.

Moreover, Persona 5 has a Japanese origin and we find a sharp criticism of Japanese society which appears just and disciplined, but the teenagers we meet during our adventures are the black-tainted victims of this society.

A real message for Japanese youth, Persona 5 takes to the defense of the young in a media mostly exposed to youths, in fact, we can understand the statement of developer: In Japan, youths are only puppets under the overwhelming power of adults, thus nobody can rebel themselves, all attempt is impossible because all people who are outside of the norm are punished.

Video games are not only an entertainment, it's a excellent medium too like cinema or literature, it conveys testimonies, stories and points of views with the advantage on involving the player to make them feel what the developer wants to show: An experience of their lives.

Indeed, we all have a point of view but it not exempt of flaws yet Persona 5 sharpens our global vision on problems within our society.

Keep playing, and think.