Exploring politics and philosophy in Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 5

Warning: The following is NOT spoiler free.

Warning II: trigger warning for sexual assault mention is symboled tw*

One of the arcs has you fight against a CEO for worker right abuse and mistreatment. Image by Polygon.com

Who’s the thief?

Despite the many issues with Persona 5, the game has a lot of concepts and ideas that are worth discussing. Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 5 redefines the word thief. It features interesting and worth looking at meanings to being one.

Criminal justice systems around the world define robbery as the process of removing ownership of a property from the owner to a person who is not the owner by force. The owner has to have not consented to transferring rights they exercise over property to another person. In most cases, the subject matter in robbery is money but are material possessions the only thing that can be stolen from people? Are they the only things people deem valuable and worthy of protection?

Persona 5 includes different forms of thieves. Those who steal talents, ideas, wages, taxpayer money, money and lives.

The first foe is the high school P.E. teacher who robs students talented in track and field of showcasing their talent by disbanding them and starting a team for a whole different sport, volleyball. Though that’s not the only horrible thing the teacher does as he abuses his students both verbally and physically tw* (even implied sexually but was done in an explosive Oh Look at that hentai sensei Kamoshida!!! than respectful) Kamoshida sensei’s crime is robbing the youth of their talents, denying them the chance to demonstrate their skills and possible sponsorships and scholarships.

Madarame, the second villain, steals ideas. He plagiarised countless works by “tutoring” aspiring artists, offering them training in exchange that he takes credit for whatever they produce. Can you imagine spending years learning to draw only so that someone or some place takes credit for it? Madarame’s example is quite prevalent in the publishing industry.

There’s also Kaneshiro who steals money from people by extortion, Okumura who steals wages and health and quality time from employees, Shido who plans to steal taxpayers money should he win and achieve his own personal agenda rather than that of the people who voted for him and stole Wakaba’s work to use for his own purposes and Nijima who steals lives by not caring whether or not an innocent person is thrown in jail so long as she got a suspect and the case is closed.

Who’s the criminal?

The game highlights a flaw in the criminal justice system in the scene where the character you play as, Akira Kurusu, jumps to defend a woman against a man who attempts to tw* sexually assault her. The man, who calls the police to report Kurusu of assault, threatens to use his connections should they try to arrest him. With one phone call, the cops, rather than arresting him for attempted assault, arrest Kurusu and he’s charged with a crime.

The game ponders the question is it a crime to use violence to stop a crime?

Non Violence

The Phantom Thieves steal hearts; they steal “bad intentions” of people who steal from others. Their special power is to travel into the subconscious of bad guys and change it to good. Bad intentions comes in the form of bad versions of people . The Phantom Thieves have to fight the bad version of the people in their sub conscious in order for them to get rid of evil. You don’t kill people in Persona 5 nor you commit acts of violence towards them. You don’t fight crimes by committing crimes. A paradox often present in media with themes of crime and social justice.

The cast’s personas compliment the main theme perfectly as each one of them is a thief or a rebel of some sort. Arsene, Zoro, Captain Kidd, Carmen, Goemon, Johana, Ali Baba, Mylady and Robin Hood are all considered thieves/rebels in the setting of which they belong except they stole from the rich and influential to either help the poor or achieve other personal gains.

Led or Lead? *pun*

Shin Megami Tensi’s Persona 5 interestingly features many sides of the argument. One of the main characters asks wouldn’t they, the phantom thieves, be contradicting themselves by triggering a change of heart in the people whom they pursue rather than letting it happen on their own? A question that provokes the phantom thieves though they don’t pay much attention to it.

Yaldabaoth, the last boss, appears as a result to the phantom thieves continuous operation change hearts. If a change of heart was only achievable via external means, in the case of Persona 5, the phantom thieves interference, wouldn’t that mean humans cannot be trusted? They can’t be left to their own devices otherwise they’d commit crimes? Had it not been for the Phantom Thieves, the bad guys would’ve carried on with their wrongdoings. Yaldabaoth claims, just as the bad guys needed the phantom thieves to help them change into good people, humans need Yaldabaoth to distinguish the good from the bad. Free will versus Determinism, a recurring theme in JRPGs.

Restorative Justice

Restorative Justice is another concept the game has. Rather than turning the bad guys to police, The Phantom Thieves; Operation change of hearts causes the bad guys to admit to their wrongdoings on their own and in public and vow not to commit the act again. Changing hearts defeats bad intentions completely. The game denies this form of justice to one of the characters who’s responsible for the murder of many.

Class Struggle

One arc in the game tackles class struggle in a very straightforward manner. Employees in the subconscious of bad people, or in this arc Okumura’s, the CEO of a fast food chain, are portrayed as robots who work nonstop and are ordered to praise their company and CEO. An interesting fact you learn during class is the meaning of the word robot which is latin for to work. Employer abuse and mistreatment and terrible working conditions are brought up as issues. Though Okumra isn’t bad for only abusing his employees as he also abuses his own daughter (whose *marriage for convenience* is used as a plot device. Ugh) through this arc you hear characters in the background chattering about worker abuse taking place in many workplaces and not just the chain.

Anarchy… Sort of?

Although not explicitly, Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 5 doesn’t cheer for the current criminal justice system. During many moments of the game, you hear characters in the background talk about a group of people being immune to prosecution due to wealth and influence. The character you play as, Akira Kurusu, has a criminal record for defending a woman against a man who attempted to tw* sexually assault her. But because the man has strong influence he’s able to get away with it. The presence of many corrupt individuals in different establishments as the police station and school is another sign of distrust.

While many video games glorify police system associating respecting the police and not speaking of it critically it with patriotism (not cheering for that here), Persona 5 doesn’t share the quite common sentiment.

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 5 is a great example to video games as a platform to discuss complex issues.

Nier: Automata, a refreshing take on existentialism and other “big” questions.

Video games, especially JRPGs, tackling heavy subjects as existentialism is nothing new. However, Nier: Automata’s take is very refreshing.

Warning: The following is not spoiler free.

9S and 2B fighting machines. Image courtesy of platinumgames.com

Free Will versus Determinism 

There exists a plethora of JRPGs where characters have stand offs with other characters, exchanging opposing views and ending up fighting each other. One party believes humans require guidance whereas the other believes otherwise and need to follow their own judgement. The guidance often comes in the form of religion. The group which believes in Free Will ends up fighting the group that believes in Determinism.

Nier: Automata features the same concept except determinism isn’t imposed by a religious institution this time although it could be interpreted as such. The game has you play as 2B, a character who’s role later in the game is revealed to be an executioner; a person who gets rid of any person who questions the system. Questions as “the point of it all” and “why do we exist” are asked by fellow Yorha member 9S, a scanner.

9S, the scanner or “human who questions their own existence” in the game asks Commander about the point of going to earth and fighting, a question to which the Commander answers simply by saying the Yorha unit were made for that purpose and what will you do if you don’t fight? The Commander believes there is no purpose for androids other than to take role in this never ending war whether it’s to gather data and hack into machines as scanners, fight as combat types or eradicate outlaws as executioners.

The Commander shares similar point of view to those who believe a human’s life is determined whether by religion or other ideology. If humans were not supposed to live according to this ideology then what are they supposed to do?

Nier: Automata asks this question; what if it’s revealed to us that we exist to take part in events and recreate such events and should we question the point to the events or express desire to abandon the roles dictated to us by such ideology, we get punished?

Is Determinism only imposed by religion? 

Procreation is the first form of determinism featured in the game. After being notified of large enemy existence, that is a large number of machines, 2B and 9S make their way to a valley deep down in the desert where they’re greeted with a bizarre mass simulation of procreation process by machines. The process results in a powerful machine which resembles androids in appearance known as Adam.

The game also features other “mode of life.” such as working. Characters by the name of Marx and Engels ponder questions as the point to their existence and whether or not a life where they, highly destructive type of weapon known as the Goliath, cannot be used as such is possible? This is a clear reference to Marx and Engels critique of the concept of working to sustain oneself or “Class Struggle”.

The game also features a cult who turns the abandoned factory; a place where machines are built, into a place to practice their religion. A group of machines starting a religion and regarding a fellow machine as god is a clear reference to religions nowadays as a mode of life and an answer of the many answers to existentialism.

Beside going to work or following a religion, pursuit of beauty and seeking approval, two modes of life which the French philosopher Simone De Beauvoir addressed extensively, were also included in the game. One of the bosses you fight is named after the philosopher. When you play as 9S, you come across recordings scattered all over the world. Some of which, as the one by Simone, are by machines. These recordings often have explanation for the unusual machine behaviour as starting a cult or a kingdom or in Simone’s case seeking beauty. Simone, the machine, was subject to pressure to meet certain standards only so she would be accepted and admired.

Glory as a mode of life is included in the form of machines starting a kingdom. Some of us might want a roof over their head to protect them from the rain and all kinds of unfriendly weather whereas others are ambitious. Perhaps a little too ambitious. Maybe they want to run in the presidential elections? Maybe they want more than that? To be in charge of everything and have access to massive wealth and privileges and not be questioned by people? Ever?

Emotions emphasised through Gameplay

Nier:Automata features repetitive gameplay sequences but that is for a purpose. Not only it has repeated gameplay segments, the game has you go through it three times in order to get a full scope of the story. In the first and second play-through, you play as 2B and 9S. In the third you play as 2B, A2 and 9S and the perspective switches very often depending on the event that is taking place.

It felt exhausting just going through the playable portions of the game over and over. What if the androids themselves? Can you imagine them not being able to break free from the imposed norms and modes of life?

Now that we’re free, what do we do?

Nier: Automata may have the three main characters go against what’s been decided for them but the journey is far from over. The quest to find a meaning to one’s life is never ending. The game, however, does give ideas as what to consider a meaning to life.

Androids, whether operators, scanners, combat types or executioners establish various relationships, some of which are familial whereas others are romantic or friendly. Androids who grow consciousness, acknowledge new feelings and act in accordance to the feelings and consciousness or in strictly computer terms; data that don’t correspond with Yorha agenda, are prosecuted. Some even suffer malfunction and their operating system ceases to work.

Machines also establish various forms of relationships. Hostile machines aren’t destroyed for not conforming to a certain way of living as opposed to their non hostile counterparts as the ones in Pascal Village. Unless a machine and an android take part in this vicious cycle of war and killing, neither can find peace.

In the world of Nier: Automata, war is the status quo, peace is the exception. For some, relationships as family, friends and loved ones, community and peace are worth pursuing and protecting.

For others, resistance, non conformity and free thinking are also worth pursuing and protecting.

Whatever it is the meaning, only you can decide.