History SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome / Persona

** Makoto and Haru are the only Thieves with driver's licenses, and yet Makoto refuses Haru's aid and insists on driving by herself because of Haru's [[DrivesLikeCrazy particular style of driving]]. Several hours of marathon driving take their toll on Makoto, and Jail excursions further cut into the rest she requires; by the time they need to drive from Fukuoka to Kyoto, Makoto is [[HeroicRROD too exhausted to drive]] and Haru ''has'' to take over.

** When Yosuke is showing off potential weapons to Yu for the first time for them to take to the TV world in order to defend themselves, they both get arrested. Turns out being RPG heroes is not a good excuse to blatantly carry weapons in broad daylight in a crowded public space, especially with a murderer running around. The only reason that Yu and Yosuke weren't interrogated by the police is due to the protagonist having a relative (Uncle Dojima) on the force, and even then they're on thin ice with the police afterwards.
** When the SchoolFestival rolls around, Yu is given an option of voting for what the class will be working on for their class booth. Your vote makes no difference due to nearly everyone voting for the Group Date Cafe. And ButThouMust makes a Group Date Cafe because Yu is one individual in a class and is in no position to decide for the others.
** At the end of [[ButtMonkey Yosuke]]'s Social Link, Yosuke confesses that he'd always been jealous of Yu, and they work out their issues with a fistfight. Unfortunately, someone sees Yosuke and reports him to the police, resulting in Yosuke getting in trouble for fighting. You learn what happened after completing his Social Link and talking to him in the dungeon.
** The Investigation Team are just a bunch of high schoolers forced into a situation where they have to solve a case that even the police can't. Unsurprisingly, they spend most of the game wrapped around the killer's thumb, chasing after someone that the actual killer has duped into creating a series of false leads. Once someone with actual detective training joins their team, the case gets solved in relatively short order.

** Makoto and Haru are the only Thieves with driver's licenses, and yet Makoto refuses Haru's aid and insists on driving by herself because of Haru's [[DrivesLikeCrazy vehicular expertise]]. Several hours of marathon driving take their toll on Makoto, and Jail excursions further cut into the rest she requires; by the time they need to drive from Fukuoka to Kyoto, Makoto is [[HeroicRROD too exhausted to drive]] and Haru has to take over.

* ''General'':
** While the series establishes that accepting one's Shadow is important to overcoming your flaws and improving oneself, there have been three cases throughout the series where the owner of a Shadow simply ''cannot'' accept it because it's either too painful to accept or too opposed to what they want to believe. In ''Persona 2'', Maya's Shadow rants that she hates Tatsuya, Lisa and Eikichi for locking her up in the Alaya Shrine years ago which almost got her killed by a serial arsonist that left her with burn scars and an intense pyrophobia. However, the original Maya is such an AllLovingHero that the idea of hating ''anyone'' is too unacceptable to her, so she instead convinces herself that her Shadow is just a fake created by the power of rumors. In ''Persona 4'', Mitsuo Kubo's Shadow claims that the real Mitsuo feels empty and worthless inside, but to the very end the original Mitsuo refuses to accept that he feels like his life has no self-worth. A similar case happens with Rei's Shadow in ''Persona Q''. In her case, accepting her Shadow would mean accepting that she felt like her life was a waste, [[spoiler: since she died and felt like she had no chance to really live for anything]]. Zen sums it up:
--->'''Zen:''' "There are different sides to people"... That must be true. But even with that in mind, some things cannot be accepted...
* ''VideoGame/Persona2'':
** In ''Innocent Sin'', many students wished for Joker to make them smarter or get better grades. One student is detained for cheating.
** In ''Eternal Punishment'', if you try to eat food at certain restaurants that serve liquor, they won't serve Tatsuya because he's a minor.
* ''VideoGame/Persona3'':
** The Condition mechanic. Characters you take into battle will be in a worse condition the next day, affecting their performance in battle, and using them for consecutive days will cause them to catch a cold. After all, your party has to stay up until midnight if they want to explore Tartarus, limiting their sleep schedule along with the pressures of normal school life. [[TheProtagonist Makoto/Kotone]] is most affected, since you CantDropTheHero, and have to go through their social life with limited social stat gains and limited actions if you allow them to get sick. Managing your schedule, Tartarus included, is important for keeping your party in optimal condition.
** Takaya's weapon is a magnum revolver. In combat, the characters have proper armor and can stand up to his gunshots, but [[spoiler: Junpei (though he gets revived) and Shinjiro]] get ambushed and shot in weaknesses in their armor (if they had armor on at all at the time) and die within a minute of being shot. The game's empowered cast may be Shadow-killing, Persona-empowered individuals, but they're still humans, and without proper protection, a gunshot to the vitals is just as deadly as it is in real life.
** No matter how much of a charmer you might be, your friends still have their own personal boundaries that they want to be respected. If you try to hug Yukari during a particularly low point in her Social Link, it causes your rank to reverse because while you meant to comfort her, you essentially ignored her own boundaries, something someone like Yukari does not appreciate. Also, saying the wrong thing to someone, even if you have high social stats, will still upset them since no matter how charming, courageous, or smart you are, what you said is still hurtful or upsetting, so they still do not like it and get upset at you.

** Shortly after the opening of the superstore Junes in Inaba, several local shops took a nosedive in customers and profits due to Junes offering a much broader range of products, with some even closing down; this is a fairly common occurrence in real life, as can be seen whenever a major chain store enters a community. [[spoiler:At the end of Golden, Junes works out a deal with the Inaba shop owners with a "locally-produced goods" section to try and keep them in the public interest.]]
** Yosuke is first seen trying to ride a bicycle during wet weather while steering one-handed due to the umbrella he is carrying. Naturally, he crashes due to not being able to balance or steer correctly.
** Yosuke has two more realistic outcomes involving his bike: the very next day after the above-mentioned crash Yosuke is seen flying past [[TheProtagonist Yu]] on his bike, and again crashes due to being TooFastToStop. Much later, Yosuke's bike is heard making plenty of squeaking and groaning noises, and it's implied that Yosuke's rough handling and speeding is the chief cause.
** When [[TheProtagonist Yu]] first sees the Midnight Channel on his room's TV and realizes that he can put his hand through the screen, something grabs him and tries to pull him through, but he gets wedged in between the TV frame due to it being too small. The next morning, even though Chie and Yosuke [[CassandraTruth don't believe him]], she [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] how realistic that part was, causing Yosuke to joke about trying it with an even bigger TV at Junes.

** Naoto's status as a TeenGenius and KidDetective sometimes runs into this. No matter how smart you are or how good you are at solving crimes, it doesn't guarantee that the police will want your help, particularly when you've been acting like an InsufferableGenius and challenging the authority of the people who hired you. That said, it's also implied that they didn't think much of her due to her age and gender, and are unwilling to admit that the juvenile suspect they just arrested didn't actually do it. An unfortunate reminder that some public authorities prefer to save face rather than do what is right.

** As obvious as it may seem to Yu and the player that those people thrown into the TV should simply accept the harsh truths that their Shadow is telling them, thereby saving you and the rest of the party a boss battle... it's very difficult for the characters in question to simply come to terms with the parts of themselves that they're least proud of (and some weren't even completely aware of) staring them in the face, that are also bringing up all their worst fears and insecurities in front of strangers they don't trust. Nobody would be able to react in a positive manner in those circumstances, let alone teenagers that have been kidnapped into some mysterious realm. By the time the party goes to save Naoto, Kanji decides it's better that they let the shadow "spill the whole thing" and just clean things up afterward, otherwise Naoto will just end up still hurting from the experience.
** The copycat killer midway through the game sets up a mostly-perfect replica of the initial two murders [[note]] they break from the real killer's pattern for victims (female as opposed to the third being an adult male) and where the victim's body ends up (victims one and two are hung from an antenna or power wire, the third from a water tower) [[/note]]. For the most part PoliceAreUseless in the story because of the explicitly supernatural nature of the first two murders, but the copycat's murder is done with zero supernatural aid and left a massive evidence trail... which means that it takes only a couple of hours for the Inaba police to gather the evidence they need to track them down and finger them for the crime. Unfortunately, this also means that everyone is ready to pin the blame for all three murders on the copycat and declare the case closed even though there's far more to it than that because the third murder after two high-profile, horrific murders with such little information has the police ready to call it quits. This is partly from wanting their community to be finally safe, but it's also because they've been a public laughingstock for in-universe months. The Investigation Team itself is almost entirely convinced the copycat decided to act on his MO without the TV world after the attempts on Yukiko, Kanji, and Rise all failed, basically for the same reasons as the police.
** Late in the game, [[spoiler:the true killer Adachi]] uses a pistol as his weapon and just uses it as his basic (read: weakest) attack and nothing compared to his powers. The AnimeOfTheGame, however, treats Yu having a gun pointed at him with all the real threat and severity of someone bringing a sword to a gunfight, supernatural powers or not.

** The Phantom Thieves inflict HeelFaceBrainwashing on corrupt adults. Eventually, they successfully manage to do this to the BigBad, who's been leading a political conspiracy. However, this doesn't immediately solve everything. [[spoiler:The evil conspiracy ends up covering for Shido because they would also be screwed over, and due to their control over the media, the public doesn't care. Furthermore, even after Mementos is destroyed and society starts moving to convict Shido for his laundry list of crimes, he can't be found guilty without evidence. And since the Metaverse is gone, Black Mask is (presumed) dead and the conspiracy obviously won't testify against itself, the only person left who can testify against Shido is Joker. As a result, Joker has to confess to being the leader of the Phantom Thieves and be sent to Juvenile Hall due to his prior record to ensure that Shido is convicted.]]
*** And even that gets its own dose of reality ensuing, this time in favor of the Phantom Thieves. [[spoiler: Joker ends up in juvie for all of two months, as all of the good he had done as the leader of the Thieves lead to his Confidants and allies proving how unfair and bogus the initial arrest was -- Shido tried AttemptedRape on a woman when he was drunk, then used his power to end up as a KarmaHoudini while blaming Joker for it. The arrest is eventually removed from Joker's record, and he's released early. The police are furious at this, but prosecuting Joker as a Phantom Thief now would prove to a very-aware society that the police were scapegoating him. The best they can do is keep Joker under constant surveillance in case he does anything else, but it's shown that the police are doing this out of spite rather than genuinely thinking he's a criminal.]]

** PlayedForLaughs during the trip to Hawaii. During the group's stay in a hotel, Mishima gets a bad stomachache. This is because he's visiting from Japan, and he drank American tap water. Ryuji even comments that one of the first things the students are told on the trip is not to drink the tap water for exactly that reason.

** The police force after the events of ''Persona 5'' is noticeably diminished; high-ranking officers were arrested on grounds of [[TheConspiracy conspiratorial accompliceship]], public opinion took a hit when their role in oppressing activists came to light, and their glorious leader's change of heart exposed the entire rotten operation. Several corrupt mid-level members are still trying to capture the Phantom Thieves in an attempt to regain public trust after a new wave of cognitive distortions hits the city, even if the evidence against the Thieves is largely circumstantial.

** Makoto and Haru are the only Thieves with driver's licenses, and yet Makoto refuses Haru's aid and insists on driving by herself because of Haru's [[DrivesLikeCrazy vehicular expertise]]. Several hours of marathon driving take their toll on Makoto, and Jail excursions further cut into the rest she requires; by the time they need to drive from Fukuoka to Kyoto, Makoto is [[HeroicRROD too exhausted to drive]] and Haru has to take over.
** The fourth Jail arc has the Thieves pull an all-nighter exploring the Jail after a long day at the beach; given this is an impromptu investigation rather than a planned-out heist, all of them are exhausted come morning and require some rest before they can continue their work in any capacity.
** Zenkichi had a good reason for feigning indifference to his wife's death rather than investigate it directly: ([[spoiler:the Conspiracy was using Akane's well-being as blackmail material against him, and given how this was well before Joker was pulled into Yaldabaoth's game, the conspiracy was more than powerful enough to carry through with it, with or without Shido]]). Even so, his daughter Akane's feelings were grievously hurt as collateral damage; the Phantom Thieves' many successes where the police could or would not act only further fueled her hatred for the police. Thus, even when the truth comes out thanks to encouragement from the Phantom Thieves, their relationship does not improve immediately. It takes Makoto convincing Akane to give Zenkichi another chance, as well as Zenkichi admitting that [[JerkassRealization Akane has every right to be mad at him]], that things can truly start to heal.
** Once the FinalBoss is defeated, the BigBad attempts to turn themselves into the police for the part they played. However, because the crimes were committed in the Metaverse, there is no proper evidence to arrest them, and the police set them free for lack of proof.

** {{The Protagonist}}s or the Phantom Thieves inflict HeelFaceBrainwashing on corrupt adults. Eventually, they successfully manage to do this to the BigBad, who's been leading a political conspiracy. However, this doesn't immediately solve everything. [[spoiler:The evil conspiracy ends up covering for the Big Bad because they would also be screwed over, and due to their control over the media, the public doesn't care. Furthermore, even after Mementos is destroyed and society starts moving to convict the BigBad, he can't be found guilty without evidence. And since the Metaverse is gone, TheDragon is (presumed) dead and the conspiracy obviously unwilling to testify against themselves, the only person left who can testify against the Big Bad is the Protagonist, who has to confess to being the leader of the Phantom Thieves and be sent to Juvenile Hall due to his prior record.]]
** And even that gets its own dose of reality ensuing, this time in favor of the Phantom Thieves. [[spoiler: Joker ends up in juvie for all of two months, as all of the good he had done as the leader of the Thieves lead to his Confidants and allies proving how unfair and bogus the initial arrest was. The arrest is eventually removed from his record, and he's released early. Prosecuting him as a Phantom Thief would prove to a now very aware society that the police were scapegoating him.]]
** The game itself begins with [[TheProtagonist Joker]] being ambushed by the police and arrested. He may be a Persona-using window-jumping PhantomThief, but even he doesn't stand a chance all alone against an army of armed policemen, especially with his ThouShallNotKill policy.
** Joker's backstory starts out with saving a woman from being raped by startling her attacker (later revealed to be [[BigBad Masayoshi Shido]]), causing him to stumble to the ground. However, Shido has a ton of connections to the police force and political world, so the protagonist gets arrested and sued by the man he "assaulted", ending up with a criminal record.
** Ryuji is all for becoming a phantom thief and stealing Kamoshida's treasure from his Palace right up until Morgana says if they botch it, it could cause Kamoshida to suffer a mental shutdown and effectively become a vegetable or outright die. Ryuji may very justifiably ''hate his guts'', but he's not willing to risk murdering even someone he despises if the heist goes wrong. It takes the fallout with Shiho and Kamoshida threatening to ruin {{The Protagonist}}s' lives before Ryuji realizes they have no choice for the sake of everyone in Kamoshida's reach.
** The Phantom Thieves meet in fairly public places to discuss their activities. Combine this with Ryuji, who has NoIndoorVoice, and he very nearly spills the beans several times. In fact, Makoto was already tailing the gang under orders from the principal and gets solid proof that they're the Phantom Thieves thanks to Ryuji's inability to keep his mouth shut.
** Most of Joker's Confidants have someone antagonizing them, and changing that someone's heart eventually becomes necessary to progress. The Confidants ''will'' notice that this happened after Joker learned of their problems, as well as when Joker specifically asked for the person's full name, leading them to correctly conclude that Joker is one of the Phantom Thieves.

** PlayedForLaughs in the ''Royal''-exclusive cleanup event. Maruki tries to imitate the "salt bae" meme... resulting in the salt blowing away in the wind and nothing seasoning the bowl.

** Also notable about the Hawaii trip: while it's been planned for several months, the incredible disruption of the academic year up to this point (including at least one teacher being ''arrested'' and one ''very'' public suicide attempt, with all the media attention that garners) results in the teachers being understaffed and forced to rely on the student council to shepherd the students. As a result, any big plans they had are completely derailed, and the class trip to Hawaii ends up having the students do the same thing they do at home: sit around, talk to each other, and play on their phones. Ryuji and Ann both point out how disappointing it is that they're in Hawaii and it's just like being in Japan, except there are beaches.
** The Phantom Thieves claim they are going to accept their painful pasts and use it to fuel new, future goals for themselves. In ''Royal'', [[spoiler:Maruki alters reality to match the Thieves' wishes, including bringing their loved ones back to life. Most of them subconsciously accept the brainwashing and live in the LotusEaterMachine he provided, except Joker and Akechi. As strong as they are, the Phantom Thieves are just teenagers who wish they never experienced those traumas in the first place. Saying you can take the hard way through life is one thing. Actually doing so when presented the easier, happier option is another.]]
** Like in the previous two games, you can romance multiple girls. They all find out on Valentine's Day, [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown and it doesn't end well for]] Joker.

** The police force after the events of ''Persona 5'' is noticeably diminished; high-ranking officers were arrested on grounds of [[TheConspiracy conspiratorial accompliceship]], public opinion took a hit when their role in oppressing activists came to light, and their glorious leader's change of heart exposed the entire rotten operation. Several corrupt mid-level members are still trying to capture the Phantom Thieves in an attempt to regain public trust after a new wave of cognitive psience distortions hits the city, even if the evidence against the Thieves is largely circumstantial.
** Even then, Kaburagi continues to emphasize to her subordinates the importance of investigating every lead for genuine links to the Thieves, as similarities to past modus operandi are all they have to go on. As a result, when [[spoiler:Owada attempts to arrest the Thieves and takes Zenkichi into custody]] without following proper arrest protocol and lacking legal justification on which to conduct the arrest in the first place, [[spoiler:Sae Niijima]] terminates their operation immediately.
** Makoto and Haru are the only Thieves with driver's licenses, and yet Makoto refuses Haru's aid and insists on driving by herself [[spoiler:since she is both aware and frightened of Haru's [[DrivesLikeCrazy vehicular expertise]]]]. Several hours of marathon driving take their toll on Makoto, and Jail excursions further cut into the rest she requires; by the time they need to drive from Fukuoka to Kyoto, Makoto is [[HeroicRROD too exhausted to drive]] and Haru has to take over.
** The Phantom Thieves demonstrate that they have learned nothing from previous endeavors and discuss their plans in public, complete with Morgana's meowing to any who might listen in being a source of attention. [[spoiler:Ichinose]] uses what she learned from eavesdropping on the Thieves as a result to manipulate them into carrying out her agenda.
** Futaba's attempt to recreate the "I'm King of the World" scene from ''Film/Titanic1997'' gets her scolded by a ferry crew member, who demands she stop lest she hurt herself or others.
** The 4th Jail arc has the Thieves pull an all-nighter exploring the Jail after a long day at the beach; given this is an impromptu investigation rather than a planned-out heist (like the one they pulled on [[spoiler:Maruki]]), all of them are exhausted come morning and require some rest before they can continue their work in any capacity.
** Zenkichi had a good reason for feigning indifference to his wife's death rather than investigate it directly ([[spoiler:the Conspiracy was using Akane's well-being as blackmail material against him, and given how this was well before Joker was pulled into Yaldabaoth's game, they were more than powerful enough to carry through with it with or without Shido]]), but his daughter Akane's feelings were grievously hurt as collateral damage; the Phantom Thieves' many successes where the police could or would not act only further fueled her hatred for the police. Thus, even when the truth comes out thanks to encouragement from the Phantom Thieves, their relationship does not improve immediately and the brainwashing needs to fully disappear from her mind before they can begin to mend it.
** Once the FinalBoss is defeated, [[spoiler:Kuon Ichinose]] attempted to turn themselves into the police for the part they played. However, because [[spoiler:Ichinose's crimes were committed in the Metaverse (unlike Akechi who killed people in the real world), there is no proper evidence to arrest them and the police set them free for lack of proof.]]

** Takaya's WeaponOfChoice is a magnum revolver. In combat, the characters have proper armor and can stand up to his gunshots, but [[spoiler: Junpei (though he gets revived) and Shinjiro]] get ambushed and shot in weaknesses in their armor (if they had armor on at all at the time) and die within a minute of being shot. The game's empowered cast may be Shadow-killing, Persona-empowered individuals, but they're still humans, and without proper protection, a gunshot to the vitals is just as deadly as it is in real life.

** The Phantom Thieves claim they are going to accept their painful pasts and use it fuel new, future goals for themselves. In ''Royal'', [[spoiler:when Maruki alters reality to match the Thieves' wishes, including bring their loved ones back to life, they subconsciously accept the brainwashing and live in the LotusEaterMachine he provided, bar Joker and Akechi. As strong as they are, the Phantom Thieves are just teenagers who wish they never experienced those traumas in the first place. Saying you can take the hard way through life is one thing, actually doing it when presented with the easier, happier option is another.]]