u/CJM_310

I love Persona 5. It’s not quite my favorite game of all time, but it’s certainly up there. And Royal just expanded on what I already love; I’d never say no to more Persona. I loved the QoL improvements and for the most part enjoyed the third semester. But unfortunately, there’s one red stain on my full enjoyment of the Royal content, Sumi Yoshizawa. (Spoilers ahead)

For 90% of the game, you know her as Kasumi, and she is a completely blatant and unabashed Mary Sue. She’s smart, athletic, super polite, everyone wants to be/be with her, etc. She is perfect to an annoying degree. Now the thing is, that’s kind of the point. Sumire views Kasumi as perfect, so it makes sense that when she thinks she is Kasumi, she’d act perfect. That’s actually something I think the writers handled pretty well, but at the same time, you know her as Kasumi for way longer than Sumire, and the annoyance felt from Kasumi’s “perfection” is very much real, and that doesn’t just go away.

It really isn’t helped by the fact that the game feels the need to pause every few hours or so to shove her in your face. “Hey hey, here’s Kasumi. Don’t forget about Kasumi! She’s gonna be super important later so don’t forget. Hey remember Kasumi?” She’s not naturally included in the story *at all.* Even if you haven’t played the original release, you can immediately clock that she’s a dlc character. The Hawaii trip is by far the worst example. There is *no* reason for that scene to exist other than “hey, remember Kasumi exists.”

And her persona awakening is just *awful.* I think 10/3 is the worst written scene in all of Persona, which is saying a *lot.* Most of my complaints are more about the nature of the final palace admittedly, but Kasumi’s awakening just breaks so many established rules. It’s established since the first palace that to awaken to your persona, you have to rebel against a palace ruler. But in Kasumi’s case she just… rebels against a random shadow. Not a character she has a personal connection to, not someone who’s wronged her in the past, just a random ass shadow.

And can we just talk about how terrible the major twist is? Like it legitimately falls apart after just 5 seconds of thinking about it. You mean to tell me that for an entire *year* Ren never hears a single person call her anything other than Yoshizawa or “honor student”? Nor does he hear the news of an honor student from his own school dying earlier that year? That would be massive news, and we’re expected to believe he never hears a thing about it? And apparently no one in the Phantom Thieves have heard the news about a fellow classmates death either? Including Makoto, the student council president? Or Futaba, who would have done a full background check on her the second she learns she had a persona (just a simple Google search would pull up a ton of articles about Kasumi’s death). Or *Akechi* who straight up knew her beforehand!?!? It’s so clear that the writers were so focused on the twist, that they completely forgot about the how of it.

And then she doesn’t even interact with any of the PT. She has like… one conversation with Futaba and that’s it. Like in Persona 4, Marie (who’s another character I can make an entire rant about) while also being 100% a fanfiction OC and not a good character by any means, at very least actually interacts with the Investigation Team, and has unique dynamics with all of them. You can understand why the IT considers her a friend. Sumire has nothing. Again, you can just *feel* that she was added after the rest of the characters.

And even though the game builds her up so much to be super important, she simply doesn’t matter to Maruki’s story. I do like what’s done with her in the first part of the third semester (although it’s never explained why she isn’t affected by Marukis world) but after you beat her (and it’s never mentioned that she outright tried to kill you but I digress), the story is identical with or without her inclusion. So this character that the game spent the whole time hyping up is important for maybe… 2 hours. Out of a 150 hour game. And again, even though she has center stage for a brief moment in it, she doesn’t affect Maruki’s story. Akechi’s is a far more effective version of what they try to do with her. “If you stop me, Akechi will die” has so much more weight than “if you stop me, Sumire will have to face the painful truth.”

And the game acts like she and Ren have a bond that no other bond is like, but like… you barely fucking talk to her. I know I just complained about the game forcing her down your throat but like, the first half of her social link if just you two dicking around, and then you have a few (forced) hangouts and that’s it. Honestly, Ren feels way closer to *Mishima* than he does Sumire. The fact that she gets a showtime attack with him and not Ryuji or Morgana, his two oldest allies and best friends, is just absurd.

I could name more stuff (like how she’s clearly designed to be an amalgam of the fan favorite parts of the P4 girls, or that beyond stupid as fuck Sae’s palace scene) but I feel like I’ve said my piece and any more would just be nitpicking.

It really feels to me like Atlus tried to make the “perfect Persona girl” but they just ended up failing horribly; to the point where every time she’s on screen, I roll my eyes. She so obviously doesn’t fit in with the rest of the game, she’s shoved down your throat repeatedly, and it really feels like the game is trying to gaslight you into liking her. I’ve seen a ton of people praise her over the years and like yeah good on you for enjoying something I don’t, but like, I seriously don’t get why. If someone just likes her because she’s cute, okay fine she is, but I simply cannot find anything to praise her writing over. Especially over character like Ann or Ryuji.

Royal is by no means a perfect expansion, but in my genuine opinion, had it not been for Sumi, I would’ve enjoyed it so much more than I do.