History TearJerker / Persona5Tactica

[[quoteright:400:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tao_and_luca.png]]
[[caption-width-right:400:Even the toughest {{Street Urchin}}s will cry when they see their dead sibling again only for it to be a mere illusion.]]

* Guernica's backstory. Once an orphan named Tao who lived alongside her sister Luca, they were thrown away by their parents and forced to live on the streets as orphans. As horrible as the lives of some of the characters are, at least they aren't scraping at the streets. On the other hand, Tao and Luca had to salvage scraps and ''fight with rats'' for food. Then Luca died to starvation and Tao rechristened herself as "Guernica" and resorted to vandalizing public buildings as revenge against society, only to be captured, manipulated and brainwashed by some god who didn't care about her by the slightest bit other than as a weapon to be unleashed into the real world to eradicate humanity. When Guernica breaks out of her programming by "Luca's" encouraging words, she just breaks into tears as she finds out the sister she's "reuniting" with is nothing but an illusion. Getting to see your lost beloved sibling, the only person who cared about you only for them to reveal themselves to be an ephemeral clone is heartbreaking, and is enough to put even the most hardened street punks like Guernica into tears.

* Speaking of Toshiro's father, he was already strict from the start but became even worse after Yuki's death to the point of being [[AbusiveParents emotionally and physically abusive]] to Toshiro. From mentions of him enabling his son's thoughts that he caused his mother's death (despite it not being his fault), to resorting to corporal punishment if Toshiro didn't follow his orders, to strictly controlling his every interaction, it's not hard to feel terrible for Toshiro for what Yoshiki put him through, especially if you have [[KnightTemplarParent overbearing and controlling parents who legitimately believes their oppressive actions are for your own good]], something that happens a ''lot'' in real life. After the downfall of [[VideoGame/Persona5 Shido]], Yoshiki further controlled Toshiro and rigged elections (using his shady connections) to get Toshiro the spot of Prime Minister, along with forcing him into an ArrangedMarriage, but Toshiro was [[NeverBeHurtAgain too scared to rebel against]] by that point considering the last time he tried to overturn a corrupt authority figure, it got many people hurt and/or arrested, lest be said figure being his father who heavily influenced his life since childhood and probably cared about him as a son rather than a mere political pawn.

* Speaking of Toshiro's father, he was already strict from the start but became even worse after Yuki's death to the point of being [[AbusiveParents emotionally and physically abusive]] to Toshiro. From mentions of him enabling his son's thoughts that he caused his mother's death (despite it not being his fault), to resorting to corporal punishment if Toshiro didn't follow his orders, to strictly controlling his every interaction, it's not hard to feel terrible for Toshiro for what Yoshiki put him through, especially if you have [[KnightTemplarParent overbearing and controlling parents who legitimately believes their oppressive actions are for your own good]], something that happens a ''lot'' in real life. After the downfall of [[VideoGame/Persona5 Shido]], Yoshiki further controlled Toshiro and rigged elections (using his shady connections) to get Toshiro the spot of Prime Minister, along with forcing him into an ArrangedMarriage. All things Toshiro was [[NeverBeHurtAgain too scared to rebel against]] considering the last time he rebeled, it got many people hurt and/or arrested.

* Speaking of Toshiro's father, he was already strict from the start but became even worse after Yuki's death to the point of being [[AbusiveParents emotionally and physically abusive]] to Toshiro. From mentions of him enabling his son's thoughts that he caused his mother's death (despite it not being his fault), to resorting to corporal punishment if Toshiro didn't follow his orders, to strictly controlling his every interaction, it's not hard to feel terrible for Toshiro for what Yoshiki put him through, especially if you have [[KnightTemplarParent overbearing and controlling parents who legitimately believes their oppressive actions are for your own good]], something that happens a ''lot'' in real life. After the downfall of [[VideoGame/Persona5 Shido]], Yoshiki further controlled Toshiro and rigged elections (using his shady connections) to get Toshiro the spot of Prime Minister, along with forcing him into an ArrangedMarriage. All things Toshiro was [[NeverBeHurtAgain too scared to rebel against]] considering the last time he rebeled, it got Natsuhara hurt.

* It's nowhere near as grim as some of the examples that occurred in the series, but Natsuhara's fall easily counts. After Toshiro and Natsuhara expose Nakabachi and subject him to justice, a lynch mob formed against the EvilTeacher and drove him to insanity. As they're discussing him in a train station one night, the unbelievable happened. An insane and obviously wrong Nakabachi absentmindedly tried to throw Natsuhara onto an incoming train as revenge only for her to slip off the train tracks and get ran over by an incoming train. It's heartbreaking when we find out the once-confident and upfront girl ends up despondent and gravely injured, but the worst is Toshiro's response to the fallout. He believed that Nakabachi got the last laugh and blames himself for ruining Natsuhara's life despite this is an accident that nobody really saw coming; even Nakabachi was driven insane by the students, who likely had no idea their actions would break the man to this low. The only thing that holds this back from being as bad as say, [[VideoGame/Persona5 Kasumi being ran over and killed instantly]] or [[VideoGame/PersonaQ2NewCinemaLabyrinth Hikari being driven to near-catatonia by an ultra-realistic]] TraumaCongaLine is the fact that Natsuhara is ''still'' alive and doesn't remain depressed for very long, although she's crippled for life and can no longer live as a normal girl.

* Guernica's backstory. Once an orphan named Tao who lived alongside her sister Luca, they were thrown away by their parents and forced to live on the streets as orphans. As horrible as the lives of some of the characters are, at least they had a home and likely had authority figures who cared about them. On the other hand, Tao and Luca had to salvage scraps on the streets and according to Luca's explanation, had to ''fight with rats'' for food. Then Luca died to starvation and Tao rechristened herself as "Guernica" and resorted to vandalizing public buildings as revenge against society, only to be captured, manipulated and brainwashed by some god who didn't care about her by the slightest bit other than as a weapon to be unleashed into the real world to eradicate humanity. When Guernica breaks out of her programming by "Luca's" encouraging words, she just breaks into tears as she finds out the sister she's "reuniting" with is nothing but an illusion. Getting to see your lost beloved sibling, the only person who cared about you only for them to reveal themselves to be an ephemeral clone is heartbreaking, and is enough to put even the most hardened street punks like Guernica into tears.

** It's clear the events of this whole arc resonate with Futaba, as she's watching Toshiro go through something very similar to what she did (though for better or for worse, there was no utterly depraved maniac to blame for his mom's death unlike Futaba -- the whole thing is a misfortune that just happened). While she's grown enough over the events of ''VideoGame/Persona5'' to help Toshiro through this, there are times you can tell she's [[StepfordSmiler putting on a brave face.]]
* Speaking of Toshiro's father, he was already strict from the start but became even worse after Yuki's death to the point of being [[AbusiveParents emotionally and physically abusive]] to Toshiro. From mentions of him enabling his son's thoughts that he caused his mother's death (despite it not being his fault), to resorting to corporal punishment if Toshiro didn't follow his orders, to strictly controlling his every interaction, it's not hard to feel terrible for Toshiro for what Yoshiki put him through, especially if you have an overbearing and controlling family who legitimately believes their oppressive actions are for your own good. After the downfall of [[VideoGame/Persona5 Shido]], Yoshiki further controlled Toshiro and rigged elections (using his shady connections) to get Toshiro the spot of Prime Minister, along with forcing him into an ArrangedMarriage. All things Toshiro was [[NeverBeHurtAgain too scared to rebel against]] considering the last time he rebeled, it got Natsuhara hurt.

** It's clear the events of this whole arc resonate with Futaba, as she's watching Toshiro go through something very similar to what she did (though for better or for worse, there was no utterly depraved maniac killing Toshiro's mom ForTheEvulz and blaming him for her death unlike Futaba -- the whole thing is a misfortune that just happened). While she's grown enough over the events of ''VideoGame/Persona5'' to help Toshiro through this, there are times you can tell she's [[StepfordSmiler putting on a brave face.]]

** It's clear the events of this whole arc resonate with Futaba, as she's watching Toshiro go through something very similar to what she did. While she's grown enough over the events of ''VideoGame/Persona5'' to help Toshiro through this, there are times you can tell she's [[StepfordSmiler putting on a brave face.]]