YMMV / Ace In The Hole (Persona 5)

• Adorkable:
  • Akihiko can come off as this on a few occasions, particularly after the birth of his daughter which he can't stop gushing about in front of everyone, much to Shinjiro and Ken's chagrin.
  • Makoto, as in canon. Especially highlighted when she's floundering about her crush on Ken.
  • Much like in canon, Yukiko is goofy with a weird sense of humor.
• Catharsis Factor:
  • In canon, though Shido's was taken down, his goons were never seen to have faced any onscreen punishment even though they were just as responsible as Shido was in his atrocities by virtue of carrying out the deeds themselves. In Chapter 40, we get to see at least several of them get the tar beaten out of them by Akihiko and Shinjiro in their mission to rescue Ken, which is extremely satisfying.
  • For those who are not fans of Akechi's character, Ken's epic "The Reason You Suck" Speech before throwing him out of his apartment can be satisfying, especially when said moment tears down Akechi's normally smug ego and leaves him at a loss for words.
• Crack Pairing:
  • The main ship, Ken and Makoto, given that Ken's latest appearance chronologically is in Persona 4: Arena Ultimax. The author does take careful care to build up their relationship, though, and their developing relationship spans for over thirty chapters before they start dating.
  • Shinjiro and Fuuka can be considered this, given that their few interactions in Persona 3 are limited to his Social Link, which is exclusive to the FeMC route.
• Fridge Brilliance: The revelation that Yukari was pregnant with Miyuki and Kaito during the events of The Answer (which is mentioned to have still happened in this story) puts her attitude there in a very different light.
• Harsher in Hindsight: In their fight with Shadow Okumura, the Phantom Thieves end up facing a cognitive version of Haru who serves as Shadow Okumura's attack dog. Come Persona 5 Royal, the cognitive Haru actually appears in Okumura's boss fight, not as an attack dog, but as a suicide bomber.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Ken's Confidant perks center around teaching Joker Combination Attacks. One of the features introduced in Persona 5 Royal is the Showtime attack that allows two party members to perform a Combination Attack that unlocks randomly during the story. Ace In The Hole was published before Royal was even announced.
    • In a similar vein, as the Phantom Thieves are en route to the Phoenix Rangers fan event, Morgana firmly states that he and the Phantom Thieves were not going to dress up as the Phoenix Ranger Feathermen. Come Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight and Persona 5: Royal, Featherman costumes were made available for the Phantom Thieves to wear as Downloadable Content.
  • In the Inaba chapter, Ryuji tries to take a peep on the girls while they were in the hot springs only for Ken to dissuade him by saying that doing so would be a death sentence, citing the Kyoto incident as an example. Come Persona 5 Strikers, the boys ended up getting punished by the girls for being mistaken for peeping on them. The location of the hot springs? The very same one in Persona 3. Ken's warnings now can come off as prophetic.
  • A running gag in the story has the Phantom Thieves declaring "I plead the fifth" and being told (usually by Makoto) that the Fifth Amendment is only a concept in the American legal system and not the Japanese one. In Persona 5 Tactica, Morgana would actually plead the fifth to hide what is implied to be Ren’s frequent visits to a maid cafe.
  • When the Shadow Operatives see Shido's calling card, they all question which one was Ken before Junpei narrows it down to either "a dork running around in a tux and cape or a furry" - referring to Ken and Yusuke. Come Persona 3 Reload, and not only are S.E.E.S. able to dress as the Phantom Thieves, but Ken is wearing Yusuke's costume, making the joke feel oddly prophetic.
  • When Ken re-awakens to Kala-Nemi during his first trip to the Metaverse, he gains the ability to use the Kouha line of spells that were re-introduced in Persona 5, but were absent in the original Persona 3. Come Persona 3 Reload, Ken does get the Kouha line of spells, lessening his reliance on the unreliable Hama line of One-Hit KO spells.
• Moral Event Horizon: Although Shido had long crossed it with the deeds that he had committed in canon, most of it was offscreen. But here, we get to see the full brunt of his vileness that easily reinforces how far he had pole-vaulted over the horizon by subjecting Ken to various forms of torture.
• The Woobie:
  • Tsukiko Himura. She does not have it easy, with her feeling like she's The Unfavorite compared to her twin sister, Hikari. She also had a deep desire to find love like Hikari did, but this led to her being easy pickings to Shido's emotional manipulation. This led to her becoming disowned, and her relationship with her sister became strained. She gives birth to Akechi, and she does love her son greatly, but she slowly fell into a depression. On top of that, Hikari did try to reach out to her to make amends, but due to an argument breaking out, this led to their bond becoming permanently fractured. Four years later, she's coldly told about Hikari's death, while being told that she had doomed her son to failure due to him being born a bastard. All of these led to Tsukiko committing suicide.
  • Ren is an even bigger Woobie than in canon. The fic makes it explicit that Ren was an outcast after the mark on his record, and that his parents turned their backs on him, which was the biggest betrayal for him. On top of all he goes through, he develops a big inferiority complex after Ken reveals to him that there are past Wild Cards, whose feats include: sealing away Death itself, fighting gods, and saving the world. Ren really does not have it easy especially post Okumura arc. Though later chapters imply that Ren's situation is a lot more complex than he initially thought, the betrayal still stung on Ren.
  • Ken's backstory is also expanded. It's explained that the relative who Ikutsuki alludes to, his father's cousin, is quite the Jerkass and didn't care about Ken's emotional well-being at all, when he was reeling from the sudden loss of his mother. He's also shown to feel great guilt about both October 4th incidents, still having nightmares about them, even though his mother's death was nearly a decade ago and Shinjiro's near-death was 7 years ago. And the cherry on top, he ends up getting kidnapped by Shido's men during the aftermath of the casino heist and gets tortured by Shido. He feels horribly guilty about the fact, especially since it sent SEES into a mass panic, including Minako who went into premature labor.