This isn’t to say that Persona 5 isn’t still a great game, just that it can be improved upon in Persona 6. Most notably, the next Persona game could be even better than Persona 5 if it just focuses on ironing out 5’s tricky relationship with romance. While most of Persona 5’s romances are sweet and surprisingly innocent for an M-rated title, a few cross the line into uncomfortable territory. Worse, some even undermine the game’s powerful themes and messages. Persona 6 must fix these issues.

Persona 6 Shouldn't Allow High School Students To Romance Adults

Persona 5 Allows Joker To Romance Several Adult Characters

One of the strangest narrative choices Persona 5 makes is allowing players to romance adult characters, despite playing as a 16- or 17-year-old. Even more troubling is the fact that one of the romanceable adults is Joker’s teacher (Sadayo Kawakami) and another is a doctor who performs questionable medical exams on him (Tae Takemi). By having some sort of authority over Joker, these potential romantic partners have even more of a power imbalance in their favor.

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Although these relationships may be upsetting to some players, it's worth noting that Persona developer Atlus is likely not seeing these relationships as problematic. The national age of consent in Japan is 16 (via The Hill), which would make Joker's relationships with certain adult characters less of an issue within that cultural context. That said, Japan's different prefectures each have their own laws on the subject, and Tokyo (where Persona 5 takes place) has an age of consent of 18 (via The Diplomat), which would still make Joker's questionable. Since Persona 5 doesn't feature explicit sex scenes or mentions of it, they're in a gray area.

Also, just because these relationships would be unhealthy in real life, that doesn’t always mean it’s an issue for fiction. Persona 5 is rated M, so its audience is expected to be able to parse fiction from reality. Romance fiction with questionable elements like bodice rippers or the Omegaverse isn’t necessarily problematic, and the same can be said for games with similar elements. That said, the issue with these relationships in Persona 5 is how they are framed and the effect they have on the game’s narrative and themes.

Persona 5's Adult Romance Options Undermine The Kamoshida Arc

Persona 5 Sends Mixed Messages About Teacher/Student Relationships

The first major narrative arc in Persona 5 follows Joker and his new allies taking on their high school’s physically and sexually abusive volleyball coach, Kamoshida. The exploitation of minors crops up several other times in Persona 5 through threats made by crime boss Kaneshiro and during Makoto’s Social Link missions where the host at a club is seen attempting to coerce young girls into sex work. In each of these instances, the game has a more grounded take on the exploitative nature of relationships between adults and children. However, this message is somewhat undermined by the game’s romance options.

Joker’s relationship with Kawakami is similarly exploitative to Kamoshida's treatment of his students. Joker must pay to see Kawakami during her second job as a maid if he wants to romance her. Kawakami eventually its to lying to Joker about having a sick relative to get him to give her more money. While Kawakami eventually stops charging Joker and quits her job as a maid by the time they can initiate a romantic relationship, she is still his teacher. While the game was pretty clear in condemning Kamoshida for his actions, it shows Kawakami in a more positive light.

This decision reads more like the game is saying one type of relationship between a teacher and student is bad, but another kind is good, when in reality neither is okay. Although Kawakami is not as outwardly cruel to Joker as Kamoshida is to Ann and Shiho, their relationship is still coercive and unhealthy in similar ways. It also plays into the problematic real-world trend of abuse by teachers not being taken as seriously or even romanticized when it is between a female teacher and a male student.

Again, under the right circumstances, problematic relationships in fiction aren’t necessarily a flaw in a story. However, Persona 5’s handling of these relationships undermines one of the game’s most powerful storylines. It also goes against the game’s major theme of the younger generation fighting the unjust influence of corrupt adults.

Persona 5 Has An Uncomfortable Relationship With Romance

Persona 5’s Framing Of Certain Characters Undermines Its Message

Apart from the problematic relationships between Joker and some adults in the game, Persona 5 has other issues with romance and sexuality. The best example is the game’s handling of Ann Takamaki. During the Kamoshida arc, her mistreatment and objectification are framed appropriately, with the game showing the emotional toll they take on Ann. However, Ann spends the rest of the game being leered at by her friends and teammates, which the game does not condemn with the same fervor.

While one could argue that this is because Persona 5’s main cast are immature teens, that doesn’t excuse how the game frames these segments. Often, the camera cuts to a POV shot showing off Ann’s body before cutting to a wide shot of the other Phantom Thieves staring at her. The game forces the player to in on checking out Ann in a way that feels creepy given her age and her status as a survivor of abuse.

This criticism is not meant as a condemnation of Atlus specifically. Sexualizing characters like this is a well-worn trope, which has been dubbed "fan service." While arguments can be made about which fans this type of content "services," it's hard to say Persona 5 is uniquely at fault for falling into this uncomfortable trend. That isn't to say that these tropes aren't above criticism, or that the treatment of Ann isn't still contradictory to Persona 5's messages, only that they exist as part of a wider media trend and not in Persona alone.

The Persona games, particularly 4 and 5, are deeply invested in discussing themes of morality and ethics. For the most part, they handle this well, so it was a shame to see Persona 5 undermining some of its more powerful messages with these stumbles. Hopefully, Persona 6 can learn from these mistakes and not compromise its message with questionable romance options.

Source: The Hill, The Diplomat, TV Tropes

Persona 5

RPG

Social Simulation

Released

September 15, 2016

Developer(s)

P-Studio

Publisher(s)

Atlus

Platform(s)

PS3, PS4

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