History Awesome / Persona5

[[caption-width-right:350:[[BeneathTheMask The mask is off]], [[BewareTheQuietOnes and the gauntlet is thrown.]]]]

*** For bonus points, Yusuke is the ''sole'' member of the Phantom Thieves who tears off their mask without crying out in pain. The few exceptions are either special cases (Morgana, Futaba, "Kasumi"), or their initial awakenings were offscreen (Haru, Akechi).

*** For bonus points, Yusuke is the ''sole'' member of the Phantom Thieves who tears off their mask without crying out in pain. The few exceptions are either special cases (Futaba, "Kasumi"), or their initial awakenings were offscreen (Haru, Akechi).

* Futaba gets one during the 7th Palace, when she confronts the cognitive IT President on her own. Bear in mind she used to have such crippling anxiety she couldn't leave her room, and could barely talk to anyone who wasn't Sojiro. Here, she only fumbles her words ''once'' before regaining her composure, manages to get the IT President's attention and keep stringing him along, and when he reveals something she wasn't expecting, that he was the fake Medjed who targeted the Phantom Thieves, she's able to remain calm and improvise. All this while never giving away that she's a member of the Phantom Thieves until she has no choice. A ''very'' impressive feat from someone who used to be a Hikkikomori, and a great show of her CharacterDevelopment.

** It's also ''incredibly cathartic'' to see the corrupt police force collectively shit themselves and flip out as they realize they've been played like fiddles. Combined with Sae fooling the Conspirators into believing she was manipulated as well via change of heart, and their frantic attempts to search Leblanc in a desperate attempt to find Joker when the Phantom Thieves are already long gone and about to go straight for Shido's treasure, the entire sequence after the calling card announcement becomes incredibly satisfying to watch.

* Helping your Confidants out by changing the hearts of the people ruining their lives in Mementos. Watching filthy scum like the Takases who extort Kawakami for money, and Futaba's abusive uncle who tries to blackmail Sojiro beg for forgiveness is quite cathartic to watch, knowing that you've done something to really help your companions out.

[[folder:Meta]]
* The mere concept of the HeelFaceBrainwashing that the Phantom Thieves partake in, with every heist is an incredibly awesome moment. After seeing all of these horrid people, abusing their power or abusing others and almost feeling powerless to stop them, it becomes incredibly cathartic to "steal their heart" and make them reform. This team of Persona users is incredibly cool and badass, and on the days of their heists, they have an [[https://youtu.be/J1GA0VtVw-s awesome tune]] to back them. The game does a great job in making the player feel like a suave, stylish thief, dispensing justice to corrupt and vile people.
* Seeing Kaneko's demon designs in glorious HD, with everything from the smallest details preserved, to new touches added (such as a rainbow sheen on Metatron's wings) is all truly a sight to behold. The fact that some of the models are a bit unimpressive on the graphical end but still manage to look awesome serves as a testament to his skill.
* The whole game is a love letter to the idea of the Superhero and the WakeUpGoToSchoolSaveTheWorld trope. A lot of the thieves talk about watching Saturday Morning Cartoons in their youth and wanting to emulate what they saw, heroes taking down villains, or in Ann's case, a confident con-woman getting one over on her pursuers and escaping custody. Every awakening feels like watching a Power Ranger/Super Sentai statement of purpose leading into the morphing sequence, and there are numerous times the camera holds on the thieves as a group in various pre-asskicking poses, like before the final phase of the boss fight in the fourth palace, and before fighting TheDragon in the fifth palace. The game also lampshades the [=PThieves=]' foolishness in talking about being the Phantom Thieves in public places where anyone could overhear them and texting each other about their plans for heists and knowledge of the Metaverse in general. When Makoto confronts them with evidence of their activities, they're beholden to her plans for a time. And when someone hacks their group text, they can't believe someone could actually do that and force them to do their bidding. Fortunately for them, Futaba is sympathetic to their cause and only did this to get their attention.
* One for the writing in general as despite Atlus portraying the game and its events and themes in a manner that while supporting you, forces you to consider that fears and attitudes are sometimes not unfounded. After Shadow Tsuda's battle, he laments how the young are starting to force the older generation out of their power or even out of basic jobs; in turn causing them to fear losing it and being reduced to irrelevance. More than one adult target you face has that fear in mind; which is tapering back into modern times into why the old is so afraid to release the power to the young. Aside from age politics, the writers take a good charge to promote proper skepticism towards your actions, with Goro saying what you're doing is tantamount to brainwashing. The writers manage to push their message while not simply disregarding what others are saying as mere hogwash, which is commendable.
* The plot of the game is something of a meta-CMOA, a massive TakeThat to a lot of very pertinent issues of Japanese society and the toxic connotations that can come with them when they're taken too far (respect for adults, maintaining the status quo, police abuses, etc). Many people around the world have found that [[{{Applicability}} they can relate]] the game to angsts about their own countries, as well.
* With the game's American release, the series has finally hit the mainstream, following in Creator/FromSoftware's footsteps, [[https://venturebeat.com/2017/05/18/april-2017-npd/ becoming the second top selling game globally behind Mario Kart 8 Deluxe]], and [[https://blog.us.playstation.com/2017/05/05/playstation-store-aprils-top-downloads/ the top selling game on the North American Playstation Network]]. By May of 2018, the game had reached ''[[https://twinfinite.net/2018/05/persona-5-tops-2-2-million-units-sold-in-worldwide-shipments/ 2.2 million]]'' total sales around the globe; that's pretty much equal to the grand totals of the original releases of the previous four games ''combined''.
* At the 2018 Game Awards, it was dropped with a bombshell that Joker would be part of ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' in the first character pack. It bears repeating, this game was so popular that it launched the series from semi-obscurity to ''being popular enough to have a main character as a guest character in '''Super Smash Bros''', and people's surprise was only matched by that of one [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Cloud
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[[caption-width-right:350:[[BeneathTheMask The mask is off,]] [[BewareTheQuietOnes and the gauntlet is thrown.]]]]

* The first gameplay trailer reveal. During a live-streamed concert that seemed to be focused on ''P3'' and ''P4'', the protagonist [[BreakingTheFourthWall steals the trailer from Famitsu, crashes the concert by "shooting out the lights," and dramatically reveals it]] -- and by extension, the game's [[ContrastingSequelMainCharacter radically]] [[JapaneseDelinquents different]] [[GentlemanThief premise]] -- to the ''whole world.''
** A meta-example for the trick that they pulled on the audience. One of the initial trailers depicted the MC as a typical mild-mannered protagonist, like his predecessors. [[WhamEpisode This made the above reveal a thousand times more effective.]]

* The May 5th trailer. The reveal of new characters, dungeons, All of it, really: but especially the stinger at the end where we hear the words we're accustomed to at the beginning of the series: "[[HesBack Welcome to]] [[Characters/PersonaRecurring the Velvet Room.]]"

* Morgana gets one when Shadow Okumura tricks the party except him and Haru into a force field. When Haru refuses to join her father and leave her captive teammates, Shadow Okumura attempts to sway Morgana instead, bribing him with the promise of fame and fortune. Morgana, who'd spent the last few weeks struggling with feeling useless in comparison to Futaba, takes out his slingshot and shoots the remote for the force field out of the Shadow's hand, saving the entire party. But before that, he has a few [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech choice]] [[ShutUpHannibal words]] for Shadow Okumura...

* Of all people, Futaba and Haru are the two Phantom Thieves that agree to work with [[TheSociopath Akechi]] first. While they also make a point to put him in his place should he try anything funny, it speaks volumes of both of their emotional maturity that they understood the necessity of their alliance so quickly, and manage to remain mostly cordial towards Akechi despite [[YouKilledMyFather everything]] [[ItsPersonal he's]] [[FrameUp done]] [[HeroicBSOD to]] [[NonStandardGameOver them.]]

* At the 2018 Game Awards, it was dropped with a bombshell that Joker would be part of ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' in the first character pack. It bears repeating, this game was so popular that it launched the series from semi-obscurity to ''being popular enough to have a main character as a guest character in '''Super Smash Bros''', and people's surprise was only matched by that of one [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Cloud Strife]] some few odd years before.''
** To put this into perspective, it took [[VideoGame/Persona4 Yu Narukami]] 10 years after his game was released to get into his first [[VideoGame/BlazBlueCrossTagBattle mainstream crossover appearance]] and that was with [[Franchise/BlazBlue three]] [[VideoGame/UnderNightInBirth other]] [[WebAnimation/{{RWBY}} niche]] franchises. Yet it's only been about two years after Joker's first game, and he's now squaring off with the likes of [[Franchise/SuperMario Mario]], [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Link]], [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Pikachu]], VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog, VideoGame/PacMan, Franchise/MegaMan, [[Franchise/{{Castlevania}} Simon Belmont]], [[VideoGame/MetalGear Solid Snake]], [[Franchise/StreetFighter Ryu]], [[VideoGame/DragonQuest the Erdrick (alt of the Hero, but still)]], VideoGame/BanjoKazooie, [[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters Terry Bogard]], [[VideoGame/{{Minecraft}} Steve]], [[Franchise/{{Tekken}} Kazuya]], and the aforementioned [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Cloud Strife]] (along with ''Sephiroth''), all of whom are considered among gaming's biggest icons. Bonus points for 8-Player Smash letting you fight more than one of them now that he's playable.
** The way it's shown is pretty sweet, too: it echoes his game's announcement at the ''Persona'' concert a few years prior. Out of nowhere, the lights go off during the Game Awards, and suddenly, Joker is shown infiltrating the building in style. As his fellow Phantom Thieves comment on him going alone, Morgana casually says that they've been invited to steal "the greatest treasure of all". Cue Joker throwing an envelope with the coveted ''Smash Bros.'' logo, announcing to the audience that he's more than ready to kick some ass, complete with Arsène backing him up.
--->'''Arsène:''' I am thou, thou art I. Show the strength of thy will, and rage against all challengers!
** Half a decade later, at the end of a mini-Nintendo Direct, Morgana has a [[AscendedMeme last surprise]] for everyone, as he gives Switch owners a calling card, declaring, ''finally'', Persona 5 Royal '''''is''''' on Switch -- alongside both of [[VideoGame/Persona3 its]] [[VideoGame/Persona4 predecessors]] to boot.

** Half a decade later, at the end of a mini-Nintendo Direct, Morgana has a [[AscendedMeme last surprise]] for everyone, as he gives Switch owners a calling card, declaring, ''finally'', Persona 5 Royal '''''is''''' on Switch.

** To put this into perspective, it took [[VideoGame/Persona4 Yu Narukami]] 10 years after his game was released to get into his first [[VideoGame/BlazBlueCrossTagBattle mainstream crossover appearance]] and that was with [[Franchise/BlazBlue three]] [[VideoGame/UnderNightInBirth other]] [[WebAnimation/{{RWBY}} niche]] franchises. Yet it's only been about two years after Joker's first game, and he's now squaring off with the likes of [[Franchise/SuperMario Mario]], [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Link]], [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Pikachu]], VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog, VideoGame/PacMan, Franchise/MegaMan, [[Franchise/{{Castlevania}} Simon Belmont]], [[VideoGame/MetalGear Solid Snake]], [[Franchise/StreetFighter Ryu]], [[VideoGame/DragonQuest the Erdrick (alt of the Hero, but still)]], VideoGame/BanjoKazooie, [[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters Terry Bogard]], [[VideoGame/{{Minecraft}} Steve]], [[Franchise/{{Tekken}} Kazuya]], and the aforementioned [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Cloud Strife]] (along with ''[[UpToEleven Sephiroth]]''), all of whom are considered among gaming's biggest icons. Bonus points for 8-Player Smash letting you fight more than one of them now that he's playable.

* After facing Berserk Cendrillon the first time, she tries to hit Joker and Akechi with a Vorpal Blade... [[BigDamnHeroes only for Skull to dash in ("I don't think so!")]] ''[[BigDamnHeroes and tank it by himself]]''. Then if that weren't enough, the badass shot of him standing there unfazed - along with the other Phantom Thieves catching up, free of Maruki's reality - is accompanied by [[AwesomeMusic/Persona5 'Rivers in the Desert']].

*** The Phantom Thieves are on the wrong end of a CurbStompBattle, and back down below, the public is panicking now that they can see the Palace fusing with the real world. Morgana sends out a weak broadcast for help, but all hope seems lost. Then, none other than ''Yuki Mishima'', starts cheering on the Thieves, encouraging everyone else to begin cheering and raising the "Do you believe in the Phantom Thieves?" tracker back up. Then comes the obligatory scene where your maxed Cooperation conspirators all send out their hopes to you.

** A meta-example for the trick they pulled on the audience. One of the initial trailers depicted the MC as a typical mild-mannered protagonist, like his predecessors. [[WhamEpisode This made the above reveal a thousand times more effective.]]

* The last Morgana report before ''Royal'''s release gives players quite the surprise -- as part of the DLC for the game, Joker can now fight his predecessors: Yu Narukami from ''Persona 4'' and Makoto Yuki from ''Persona 3''. It's a fan's wet dream come true.

* At the 2018 Game Awards, it was dropped with a bombshell that Joker would be part of ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' in the first character pack. It bears repeating, this game was so popular that it launched the series from semi-obscurity to ''being popular enough to have a main character as a guest character in '''''Super Smash Bros''''', and people's surprise was only matched by that of one [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Cloud Strife]] some few odd years before.''
** To put this into perspective, it took [[VideoGame/Persona4 Yu Narukami]] 10 years after his game was released to get into his first [[VideoGame/BlazBlueCrossTagBattle mainstream crossover appearance]] and that was with [[Franchise/{{BlazBlue}} three]] [[VideoGame/UnderNightInBirth other]] [[WebAnimation/{{RWBY}} niche]] franchises. Yet it's only been about two years after Joker's first game, and he's now squaring off with the likes of [[Franchise/SuperMario Mario]], [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Link]], [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Pikachu]], VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog, VideoGame/PacMan, Franchise/MegaMan, [[Franchise/{{Castlevania}} Simon Belmont]], [[VideoGame/MetalGear Solid Snake]], [[Franchise/StreetFighter Ryu]], [[VideoGame/DragonQuest the Erdrick (alt of the Hero, but still)]], VideoGame/BanjoKazooie, [[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters Terry Bogard]], [[VideoGame/{{Minecraft}} Steve]], [[Franchise/{{Tekken}} Kazuya]], and the aforementioned [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Cloud Strife]] (along with ''[[UpToEleven Sephiroth]]''), all of whom are considered among gaming's biggest icons. Bonus points for 8-Player Smash letting you fight more than one of them now that he's playable.

** Similarly, Futaba Sakura, another new party member revealed in the trailer, has the Persona ''[[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Necronomicon]]''...which is a '''[[FlyingSaucer UFO]]'''.

''STAND STILL, '''YOU LITTLE SHIT!!!'''''\\

''[[PunctuatedForEmphasis I HATE!]] '''[[BloodKnight WEAKLINGS!]]''' '''[[ChewingTheScenery LIKE YOU!!!]]'''''\\

** Makoto & Haru's Showtime, titled PTE [=ThwackDown=]. Makoto and Haru enter a wrestling ring, and when the bell rings, they run towards the enemy. Makoto starts off with a lariat while Haru gives it a dropkick. Makoto then grabs a chair and smacks on the enemy, breaking the camera in the process. The two girls then run to opposite corners of the ring, and jump off the wires into the air. They rejoin each other in the air and dive into the enemy with a "Double Death Blow." The two then pose back-to-back. The boss version features a few slight changes. The camera angles are modified so the boss cannot be seen. Haru also dives into the enemy at the start rather than doing a flying kick. The appearance of their "Double Death Blow" move is slightly different and the girls posing at the end is removed.

** Makoto & Haru's Showtime, titled PTE ThwackDown. Makoto and Haru enter a wrestling ring, and when the bell rings, they run towards the enemy. Makoto starts off with a lariat while Haru gives it a dropkick. Makoto then grabs a chair and smacks on the enemy, breaking the camera in the process. The two girls then run to opposite corners of the ring, and jump off the wires into the air. They rejoin each other in the air and dive into the enemy with a "Double Death Blow." The two then pose back-to-back. The boss version features a few slight changes. The camera angles are modified so the boss cannot be seen. Haru also dives into the enemy at the start rather than doing a flying kick. The appearance of their "Double Death Blow" move is slightly different and the girls posing at the end is removed.

** Futaba's awakening is handled in a way no other Persona character has done. Firstly, she accepts her Shadow on her own, without a fight and without any help, right before asking the party to help her eliminate the Palace's cognitive monster. Secondly, when confronting the boss, who is flying out of range of the party's physical attacks, she realizes "This is my heart's world, right? Hacking into my distortion should be no problem for me!" and creates-

* Even before Ryuji gets his Persona he effortlessly knocks down one of Shadow Kamoshida's knights, which stand a good foot taller than him, wear full plate armor, and wield shields and spears; Joker couldn't even budge them until after he awakens to Arsène. And for bonus points, Ryuji gets to body-check Shadow Kamoshida himself shortly after Joker awakens to Arsène.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[BeneathTheMask The mask is off]], [[BewareTheQuietOnes and the gauntlet is thrown.]]]]

*** Back at the battle, the Thieves manage to stand up once again, inspired by everyone cheering them on. As the belief tracker hits 100%, Joker summons Arsène and breaks his chains, causing the persona to disappear in a flash of light. At first, everyone thinks that nothing happened, and the BigBad begins to berate their failed attempt... until DramaticThunder sounds, with dark clouds spreading across the sky and plunging the whole city into nighttime. Then Joker's's Ultimate Persona, [[SatanIsGood Satanael]], descends from the heavens and he's MASSIVE, towering over the Thieves and standing as tall as (perhaps ''even moreso'' than) the gargantuan BigBad, wearing an intense, focused DeathGlare [[AssKickingPose as he spreads his arms wide]].

* Morgana gets one when Shadow Okumura tricks the party except for him and Haru into a force field. When Haru refuses to join her father and leave her captive teammates, Shadow Okumura attempts to sway Morgana instead, bribing him with the promise of fame and fortune. Morgana, who'd spent the last few weeks struggling with feeling useless in comparison to Futaba, takes out his slingshot and shoots the remote for the force field out of the Shadow's hand, saving the entire party. But before that, he has a few [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech choice]] [[ShutUpHannibal words]] for Shadow Okumura...

** Similarly, Futaba Sakura, another new party member revealed in the trailer, has the Persona ''[[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Necronomicon]]''...which is '''[[FlyingSaucer A UFO]]'''.

** Serious credit where it's due: the fact that Yaldabaoth managed to infiltrate the Velvet Room and impersonate Igor for most of the game. The only obvious {{foreshadowing}} anyone received from that was a different voice actor, something that could easily be written off or ignored.

* Joker's inclusion in ''[[Videogame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate Smash Ultimate]]'' was already an awesome moment, so how do you top that? By having him be the character to win at the biggest ''Smash Bros.'' tournament of all time! At EVO 2019, [=MKLeo=] had Joker as his main throughout the tournament, and while there were ups and downs, Leo made it to the finals with the Phantom, winning the whole thing in front of a crowd of thousands and an online audience even larger! And keep in mind, there were well over ''3,000'' entrants in the tournament. Nobody saw that coming!

** Ryuji, after being harshly insulted by Kamoshida's shadow, begins writhing on the ground in pain and ripping his mask off his face, summoning his Persona Captain Kidd. The blast of power is so strong that Kamoshida and his shadows are left reeling, and when Ryuji finishes his awakening, he lets out a hell of a SlasherSmile before ripping into Kamoshida's lackeys.

The game involves a collection of [[PhantomThief Phantom Thieves]] pulling off supernatural heists, specifically to punish people abusing their power and getting away with it, so that others may be saved when no one feels they can do anything.

''Of course'' the game will have thrilling moments to experience.