Exploring "Akechi Is Alive" Theories And Dev Answer For Dummies 

Schrodinger's Akechi is one of my favorite things in videogames.

I want Akechi to be alive because I still have to beat him at billiards when he's using his dominant hand, goddamn it!

Futaba 'not sensing' him isn't a good argument to me. Every navigator in this series has failed to detect someone since the Fuuka in Persona 3 with Chidori. In Persona 4 it happened even more with both Rise and Teddie needing clues to find someone in the TV World. While this doesn't prove Akechi is alive, I don't think Futaba saying she can't sense him immediately means he is dead

Akechi is alive for the sole fact they want to use him in future spin offs. They would not have left it so ambiguous otherwise if they didn’t want to hold onto him

Before watching, I think he’s alive because, all the other resurrections disappeared when the main cast realized the truth of the ideal world. However Akechi was still there, why did he stay when Wakaba and Okumura went back to being dead?

I seriously love the answer from the devs. I feel like it’s great way of keeping the answer a mystery and could possible set up a sequel???

I feel like he may have died but Joker’s will to fight him again may have brought him back to life. Morgana says “The whole world is a product of Cognition... ...not just the Metaverse. It can be freely re-made... The same goes for you, and everyone else. Remember..There's no such thing as the "real" world. What each person sees and feels-- Those are what shape reality. This is what gives the world infinite potential”. The flash of Joker in his thief outfit at the end may represent the connection between reality and the metaverse, and how him seeing himself as a phantom thieve lead to him literally seeing it in the reflection, just as he saw Akechi. Not only does Joker believe Akechi is alive made even more evident by the Jazz Club interaction on the last day, but every other person on the planet (at least those who know him) believe Akechi to be alive. Maybe Joker acted as kind of a tipping point for Akechi to be cognitivaley, and thus literally alove seeing as the Phantom Thieve’s will itself has power as shown with Maruki, and Joker being the leader represents the will of the thieves. Theres also the fact that you only get the true ending if you the following night choose to keep your promise with Akechi, which shows how his life hinges on Joker’s cognition of him (meaning it was either that or the star, but its prolly just cognition)

Considering that Maruki had zero evidence that Akechi was just a cognitive thing from his wish fulfillment, I always thought it was bullshit. I mean the entire social link is "we have unfinished business, I kept his glove, we still need to finish our challenge" and the game assuming you actually got the proper true ending literally ends with him in the corner of Joker's eye. It couldn't be more obvious.

We do know Akechi lives to arrest you if you miss the Shido palace deadline, which is funny to me. Tells you to change Shido's heart or else, then shows up to arrest you lol.

The definitive answer to is Akechi alive is: “IDK maybe”

The way I interpreted the scene, Akechi still lives inside Joker's cognitive heart. I came to that conclusion from Joker seeing himself in the Phantom Thieve costume. Maybe one day, Joker will be able to summon Robin Hood, Loki or/and Heraward, or one day Akechi will come back in the metaverse.

There is also this scrapped scene of Akechi in a rehab center. The gap in his memory could be just him waking up from a coma Oh, he mentioned it. Nvm then

I’m not sure what happens if you don’t do akechi’s confidant when entering the third semester. But I feel just from doing his confidant-he give him a reason to live on and fought against the shadow of himself through his own will. Akechi whether you did his confidant or not, doesn’t want to live in a world that is sorted from a mere false reality. It’s possible that Maruki’s reality give akechi full awareness of what’s going on because joker never agreed with maruki in his dream right before new years. Overall, there’s hope for akechi being alive but it’s a choice whether you impacted him or not

I don't understand why Akechi was the only one to come back on Christmas eve. If the maruki effect happened that day, then why didn't futabas mom and harus dad come back to life. Akechi mentions that when he was being questioned he suddenly got released, he got released because of the maruki effect. If the Maruki effect took place on Christmas Eve, then why was he even questioned to begin with. (This is before I saw the video)

I think that Akechi was the first thing Meruki changed that day. We know he changed the world based on his understanding of it and the people inside it. So it would make sense for him to start with the people closest to him and then expand to people he is less familiar with over time. And we know that Joker is the closest thing to a meaningful relationship he has. So fulfilling Jokers wishes first makes sense.

Akechi being a Maruki revival makes absolutely no sense. How marukis magic work is that, once you understand it’s fake and deny it, it immediately stops. As soon as futaba denies the reality, her mother disappears, immediately as soon as Morgana decides to help joker he’s a cat. However, at no point did joker ever accept the reality, immediately knowing it was off. Even if you think “well they have to know specific things that aren’t real” then akechi would’ve disappeared the moment joker responded to him that he’s taking down Maruki. The “well Maruki kept akechi around to sway joker anyways” doesn’t really make any sense. As far as we can tell Maruki doesn’t really have the power to say “screw you im doing what I want, akechi staying.” If you talk to several npc’s including a homeless man, he talks about how weird everyone’s acting, and it’s odd he hasn’t had his ideal reality, cause, we’ll he’s homeless. Why would Maruki force akechi to stay alive anyway to furfill jokers ideal reality, but not force some random homeless dude to accept his reality. And, why wouldn’t Maruki get rid of akechi the moment he realized joker wouldn’t change his mind, and that he was going to fight him. Getting rid of akechi there would mean one less attacker. And, like I said at the beginning, we don’t really have any proof Maruki can force your reality on you if you don’t accept it. Not to mention it would be odd that Maruki would randomly do one act of magic of bringing back one dude, than wait a few days, and do everything else. Of course the counter argument there would be that “well Joker ends up prison after so that means Maruki would have to have made up akechi” and while I see the argument, I don’t find it particularly convincing.

I hope that if P5 gets another sequel esq spin-off such a Strikers 2 or P5 Arena they elaborate on this as it's weird to set this up unless they have something planned for Akechi in the future

One thing that Akechi could have done is use the nav to escape from being killed, this would make sense as Futaba wouldn’t sense him anymore.

To me, he's definitely alive, and here's how: Goho-M We know that when Joker was arrested, all the items on his person were confiscated (Thanks to the Yusuke Confidant). For the sake of gameplay, we get all of our items back anyways, but it'd be insanely east, and probably likely that Akechi would probably pocket at least a few of them. I personally find it very easy to suspend my disbelief and say that. As someone else mentioned, Futaba not sensing him could easily just be the fact that Navigators in Persona aren't infallible, or it could be that there was no Akechi to sense. He was gone, either outside her range or outside the Metaverse.

A year late to the video, but here's my take on the ending. Akechi is alive due to how its possible for Futaba to easily lose track of him while in a palace. After all, like what @connorharnage6697 said, its possible for the navigator for the game to fail an attempt to detect someone. Plus that was a stressful situation which the P5 cast was in at the time. Making it even more possible that the stress caused Futaba to not detect Akechi and detect the shadow after the two gun shots were heard. Plus, Akechi being alive would explain the scene at the train station at the end. He used his skill as a detective to find out that Joker was heading back to his home town and went to one of the stations to see him. Plus during one of the social link scenes in P5 The Royal, Akechi tried on Joker's glasses and had a different hairstyle. That could have been used to help him keep a low profile while wearing his iconic uniform.

watching movies and playing games has taught me one thing: a guy isn't dead until they show us his corpse

I had an idea of a multiverse theory idea for Akechi's life once reality was returned to normal. That Akechi was found outside the palace beat up badly but eventually someone who knows his situation with Shido finds him, eventually taking him far away to nurse him back to health and eventually him starting a life away from Toyko.

It's pronounced "Go Home." Not "Goho, M." It's a genius play on words from the developer.

Well he is shown in the ending scene, so he is alive.

Regardless of what the answer is, there IS an Akechi out there. He could be the original. He could be a cognitive copy made real by Joker's bond with him.

1:13 his smile UGH makes my heart break every time

I recently finished p5r and Akechi is easily the character that I wondered about the most at the end of the game, especially since his presence is entirely lacking (Like he was literally there for a cutscene for the palace, then poof gone). You made a lot of points that made sense to me. The biggest one being that Akechi turned himself into the police before New Years, before everyone else's cognition changed, and then on New Years Akechi shows up explaining the police let him go. Why would Maruki change Akechi's fate like that, randomly? It's almost like Maruki was able to see that *joker* regretted what happened, and *joker* wanted to have a second chance at friendship with him. Hence why Akechi's not going to jail, rather he's going to "get off" to be a free man and Joker and him can get that second chance.

He probably gonna be in Persona 5: X and say something similar like 'you miss me' line.

They cut a scene from Royal where they confirmed he was alive (and working at a bath house I think? Or a rehab center or something), and it likely was him in the end credit scene.

I feel like that interview was the developers saying Akechi is alive without EXPLICITELY saying so.

I always thought it was a similar thing with what happened to morgana. His version in the metaverse disappeared but since everyone was aware of his existence he came back as a cat. Might be a similar thing to that.

I know this was a few months old, but thank you for the video essay. I, for one, do believed he could still be alive for the fact that there will be a P5 release game known as P5 ASA which I'm gonna bet would be All Star Arena like P4 arena ultimax. They've done an extended story lines for most characters and also for Adachi. I believed that Atlus would probably take this as an advantage and maybe give the closure and the story of rivalries it deserves.❤

Something quite interesting that I realised is the messages from the third semester still exist in the real world. Think about that as you will.

Awesome video pal! I love watching Persona 5 tories since i just finished the game

I have my own theory, Akechi does die in Shido palace, flat out he is dead. What we see when Akechi turns himself in is Maruki doing a small scale experiment of changing reality *slightly* before doing the massive reality shift, he gets these powers and the first thing he does is see if he could alter reality reward the hero’s who fought a kaiju sized god avatar in tokyo. As a reward to Joker and an experiment for his new power he adjusts reality making a new Akechi to turn himself in, reviving a friend of joker and allowing him to enjoy his time with his other friends instead of being in juvee. After this, this is when Maruki begins to work toward a large scale reality shift. When everything gets undone it reverts everything to the point of the reality that was created from when Akechi was revived, because as Lavenzia said “if the reality change lasts to long it will become the new base reality” The first reality shift maybe by how small it was compared to the second it became the new “base” reality faster then the massive changes that Maruki tried to make the second time around. Now as for why Akechi didn’t stick around? Well same reason he rejected Maruki. Akechi wants his life or death to be on his own terms, I don’t see Akechi willing to be alive and in Jokers life solely because Joker wished for it. Even if he found himself alive until he found something that cements his own existence outside of Joker I think he would not reveal himself to the phantom thieves

I honestly feel like people try too hard when it comes to this. Most times the best answer is simply the easiest one. In base Persona 5 we can (probably) say without a shadow of a doubt that Akechi died, there really wasn't much going for him. But Royal? It feels pretty likely to just say that Akechi's rekindled desire to live and Jokers wish to save Akechi simply got the funny magic star to boot him out of the palace. This way Futaba is still correct with not sensing him, Akechi feels a desire to pay Joker back so turns himself in, Maruki interferes and by the end of all that Akechi simply can't get back to the gang in time in order to take the fall for Joker. Easy, to the point, wraps everything up in a nice little bow and requires no mental gymnastics

I’m other words for the truth part, it is us for how we perceived if akechi is dead or alive, simply referring to our cognition or belief, to be honest, that sounds suitable to me, and thanks for posting this to us as well❤❤❤

Isn't his survival, or lack thereof kind of comparable to Shinji in P3P? If you make certain choices, Shinji remains alive at the end and likewise it could be the same for Goro, considering that his 'appearance' at the end relies on a certain choice. Also they put him in Q2 and Tactica lol

Yeah, I do personally prescribe to the idea that he is alive if the protagonist/player wants him to be, considering he does only show up a the end if you actually had a good relationship with him. Now, that does not mean he never died, because I do also find the wishing star thing to be an acceptable explanation as well, and we have had characters like Junpei die in Persona before and come back alive.

I don't think it really matters if Akechi is a cognition created by Maruki or not. It can be true that Akechi survived Shido's Palace, and that the Akechi during Maruki's Palace is a Cognition. I personally want to believe that Akechi survived. I think there's enough evidence to back up both him being dead, and alive, but all I need is the fact that he was at the Train Station. We don't really get too many appearances of past Persona Characters in following entries, but we do occasionally(Tanaka is in both 3, 4, and 5; the party from 3 is in Arena; 3 and 4 characters are mentioned in 5(to varying degree's depending on if you are playing Vanilla, or Royal; the characters all know about each others existence, but just don't remember(Q, and Dancing)), so I think it'd be cool if Akechi made a cameo in P6, or if he is a character that actually has a role to play(even if it's a minor one). He'd presumably be on the run/in hiding(so probably going by a different name), or he'd at least not want to get to close to Joker and his friends(he knows that even if he was forgiven, he can't be with them(he would also presumably not know about their time together in Maruki's Palace if Maruki created that version of him), but him making contact with a new Wild Card could be interesting.

Okay let's say everyone in the world says he is alive, it means he has no memories on the Maruki incident, but he'd probably have felt it while in hiding, but that would mean he knew there was a fake him but did nothing for he knew a fake him made for protagonist would choose the right path like him and continued to lick his own wounds to recover, that and future games will reveal his survival so why show off your alive when you can have a performance in element of surprise, I mean like Loki he did disguise himself to be an ally of justice just to try to kill them resulting to this self sacrifice scene he did, so when they are in trouble he will show up and be like why are you struggling when you changed a psychopath like him to do better.

I like to believe that either the Star gave Akechi life, or it was Maruki's last act of defiance to reality. As a way of rewarding the Phantom Thieves for their hard work in taking him down. For the star, who said it couldn't grant two wishes? We only see it lose luster after the fact, not when Helicopter Mona becomes a thing

When it comes to akechi's mind being overwritten if you choose marukis reality there is a screen where joker and akechi look directly at the camera tower unlike everyone else to imply that they are aware of the changed reality. Ps.do you think it's fair to use theives den for thing like characterization

1:46 They were not in the metaverse yet so she couldn’t use her powers

Okay so I have a theory what happened to Akechi … one I have not read anywhere so far as a whole. To explain, I need to start with the question why Akechi has 2 Personas. I think it is possible that he is a wildcard, but I do not think it’s the reason he has two personas. Because his outfit also changes depending on which persona he is using. That does not happen with Joker. Yes, I know people believe it is to deceive the phantom thieves, but is this really something he has control over? It was implied that the outfit is just like the persona unique to the persona user. While Joker, being a wildcard is an exception, his outfit always remains the same. I think, Akechis real, original persona is Robin Hood. In the persona 5 animation, I think, we see a young Akechi liking super heroes. This would fit with Robin Hood as his persona. This is obviously just speculation, but there are other things that hint towards this theory. In Persona 4, there is a TV show called Phoenix ranger featherman, a show about super heroes. Now, in Persona 5 Royal, the player can play a game called featherman. One of the feathermen is being.. I think experimented on by a scientist. I have only read about it and not experienced it myself, but supposedly, if every phantom thief would match a featherman, this one would be Akechi. Additionally, the scientists voice actor seems to be the same as the one who lend Wakaba, Futabas Mother her voice. Now, we know Wakaba worked for Shido, and she was doing research on the cognitive world. We also know, Akechi came to Shido, already in possession of persona. Which I think was Robin Hood. But maybe that Power was not enough for Shido. So, I think he made Wakaba experiment on Akechi, just like the scientist in the featherman game. In the progress, I think, a second persona was forced out of Akechi: Loki. We know from previous persona games, that experiments on forcing personas out of people is a real thing. Now, but Akechi already had one to begin with. And a Persona, usually, is tied to one’s soul, one’s character. Which is why I think, to make that possible, Akechis personality/soul split. Judging from Lokis looks and abilities I would assume maybe Loki is the „bad“ part of Akechis personality. That would explain Lokis ability to drive people psychotic. ( and Akechis…character) What also adds to this theory is Akechis strange reaction in Marukis palace to Marukis research. He kinda zommed out and when the player asks what’s wrong he brushes it off. So yeah I think Akechi had a split personality thanks to Shido. Now, this is important for my theory what happened to Akechi. When Akechi seemingly died off screen, I think maybe just his real persona, Robin Hood and his original personality died. He somehow got kicked out of the metaverse and, because of the loss of Robin Hood, has probably issues with his mind, with his memories specifically. Which is why, in the original persona 5, Akechi never shows up again. In royal, however, it’s different. Maruki got his informations about Akechi from joker. So he only knows what joker knows, or thinks he knows. So. On the day sae asked joker to turn himself in, Maruki summoned the Akechi he knew of from joker, thinking he was dead. Marukis power was not as good at that point so I think it makes sense that he would not notice. Akechi, at that point, has, as also stated by himself, memory gaps, because he was summoned from his state of amnesia. This theory would also explain why Akechi is only able to use Loki and not Robin Hood from there on. And finally, that would also explain why , what we believe was Akechi joker saw at the trainstation , only if a certain condition is met. Akechis social link has to be completed, so that he gets a new persona: hereward. This persona is a fusion of Robin Hood and Loki. So I think, through his bond with joker, he gets back Robin Hood by getting hereward. Only then, Akechi could get his memories back, which is why only then joker can see him at the train station :) I know it’s complicated but for me it makes sense and does not contradict anything we know. And of course I would very much like Akechi to be alive. But I think atlus will keep this open for us to imagine and theorise:)

9:43 Where is that gif from?

One of my thoughts is joker thinks he is dead so reminists. but akchi isnt actually dead joker reminists because they pass someone like akachi who is actually akachi. This akachi however has changed his mask, to himself who he wishes to be. aka hereward awakening. The double agent hero of chaos and maddness. (Only way those 2 personas could work)

The actual events that happen in-game are mostly irrelevant to me insofar as whether Akechi lives or not. As far as Joker and the Phantom Thieves know, he is dead, and if Atlus wants him to live, they'll make it so, and if they want him dead, the story will continue that way. The special cutscene at the very end is completely useless because either way, the characters continue on as if Akechi was dead-- and seeing as there is still a lack of post-P5R content featuring Akechi, he IS dead until we actually see him again. (almost like shrödinger's cat, fufufu) But yeah, I don't see much point in using in-game events and details to figure out whether he is really "alive" or not. A better place to look is developer's comments so we can have a better understanding of their intentions when it came to the character. But from what we've seen in this video, it seems it was left intentionally ambiguous! so, uh... that's great. But another angle to look at it from is on the marketing/publicity side. Akechi tops popularity polls and is generally popular among fans. Hopefully this is a good enough reason for Atlus to take the character seriously again instead of putting him in silly pre-20/11 DLC. (not hating on the P5T DLC, I guess. But it really means peanuts to me in comparison to maybe getting some closure for Akechi)

Imagine Akechi becoming a door

According to the game's internal logic, Akechi should be alive for quite an obvious reason - if he was killed in Shido's palace and therefore died in the real world, shouldn't Joker have died in the real world when he was shot in the metaverse by Akechi? That whole scene is based on the idea that, unless you're a palace ruler, being killed in the metaverse has zero affect on your body in the real world. That's looking at it completely logically though. Narratively, the devs clearly had their own reasons and thoughts on making it ambiguous. As someone who hates Akechi and how everyone (including the devs) kinda ignore the fact that he directly assassinated Okumura and Wakaba, I actually wish they made it so he was definitely alive. I wish they showed him in rehab and going to help Joker out of jail. In my opinion, "redemption arcs" that end with a grand sacrifice really suck because they don't let the character actually work to fix their mistakes and become better people.

Remember Jose star? Akechi prob made a wish before they went back to reality

What y’all don’t understand is you guys choose his fate. If you don’t max out aketchi you don’t see him pass the train in the ending credits. If you max him out he does pass the train in the ending credits. Aketchi isn’t that weak to loose against some gun. Plus you don’t see him getting shot. What if he shot his shadow twice? Again, it’s up to you guys to choose his fate.

My understanding is p5 akechi is dead as hell. Royal Akechis might be alive

Well i don't like him so i just considered him dead even in true ending.

Ngl i don't get it why people hate akechi so much because he is justice of his own. And plus society makes him that way and haru's father did a lot of dirty stuff too.For me, he is mostly like anti-hero

Alive or dead, I just wish a spin off would confirm it one way or another so people can stop being obnoxious about it. Strikers gets a pass because it was made at the same time as Royal but Tactica easily could've answered it but they chickened out due to.... spoilers I guess. At least one more P5 spin off after Tactica (not counting Phantom X) is inevitable at this point so I hope they at least settle this debate before we move on to P6 if they're gonna keep us in spin off hell

Nice work man. Also his Persona is Loki, and we see alive Akethi in end, thats can be a hidden point, like what if he live like killer for Joker fate? Like you now, can he be from SEES? I rookie in Persona 5 Lore but, how i know all Persona games and Katherine in one universe. Also i dislike royal, because i think its crienge, in original you fight with a god who make all shit, in the royal its some man..

i think it truly matters whether you think its right for him to live! i think he redeemed himself and earned his chance at living a normal life for himself. but you can also definitely see that he shouldnt be alive as even he chose that he should be dead.

Me personally, I believe Akechi is dead. His sacrifice of not being able to live on but still not letting Maruki have his control over reality is just so cool to mess up with him being alive. There are a lot of good points of Akechi being alive and even though Akechi is my second favourite character, I want him to keep his sacrifice. I do love the ambiguity of his fate though.

There is one more point of interest I'm this debate. Shortly after securing the route to Shido's treasure, Joker walks into LeBlanc as the newscaster reports on a corpse being found, that was stated to have been moved after death. We don't get the name, but it's portrayed as someone well known and only happens after that scene. I have always thought that was Akechi's body returning to the real world, which would seriously screw with forensics.

Akechi is alive and well, I believe in it 100% To me, my guy is just in hiding during the events of the P5R-exclusive story. At the end of the game its the real Akechi coming back

I thought i was pretty cut and dry. It's literally just a guy wearing gloves in a brown coat. Akira only got a glance at this random guy out of the corner of his eye

akechi is alive in royal true ending. but since the other games are continuations of vanilla, in wich he is dead. we will not see him

Imagine Persona 5 If...

Akechi was show alive in the true ending

I dont know why people are still arguing about this to be honest, unless a continuation of P5R narrative comes (as he isnt part of P5 ongoing narrative) and straight up confirms he is alive he is canonically dead because nothing actually confirms he isnt, the little bit at the end could be a dozen things and even if that is Akechi it doesnt confirm he is alive, it could just be Joker thinking about his deceased crazy friend or as simple as the writers wanting to create this kind of discussion and keep Akechi lovers from their back about his death. Its certainly far less conclusive than the two shots we hear beyond the gate in Shido's palace where an already exhausted and injured Akechi is undoubtedly shot at point blank, anything beyond that is just a theory. Ultimately its only up to Atlus to confirm or disprove your theories but unless confirmed otherwise, Akechi is dead, he died at the ship and Maruki also confirmed it. And im sorry, Futaba suddenly not being able to feel him anymore is a good argument, she couldnt sense him "anymore", but still could feel the shadow, that is pretty conclusive. Seriously, thinking him alive after the ship fight is just supreme reaching and I dont understand why anyone would want to anyway, he is a good character but he isnt meant to be forgiven or coddled, he is a villain and a mass murderer and one of the very few ever in Persona to actually pay for his sins and seemingly people would rather he just go to a therapy for a while or something, completely ignoring the actions he undertook and excusing his 17/18 year old ass as tho he was a child unable to make his choices, even the most basic moral ones, like killing or not. People, you do realise he would have murdered Joker in cold blood with no issues had we not outsmarted him right, not to mention the rest of the Phantom Thiefs? Redemptions in jrpgs are dime a dozen, what we got with him is the best we could have, dont make him to be just another villain who is gets off scott free. As for the unused scenes... they are unused, what more is there to say. Long story short, its meant to be open for interpretation at best, but unless Akechi is actually used in future media following his death, he simply doesnt exist anymore. Its like with Persona 3 protagonist, they could still do an asspull and make him come back to life somehow but that isnt going to happen. I find it funny that they say that the ending can only be achieved by those who want to see him alive.. that is just so not true, that ending is achieved by anyone who actually wanted to finish Royal, I didnt care for Akechi surviving whatsoever but I got there :D As for his own game.. its been almost 4 years since Royal, there is Persona 3 remake in the works and they are already working on Persona 6 as well. Considering its been what some 7 years since P5 came out, its about damn time for a new one and as popular a Akechi may be with parts of the fandom there is no doubt a game about him would have to go against certain staples of the series (party combat, likely confidants as he works alone etc.) and such a game wouldnt sell anywhere near as well as simply another entry or P3 remake.

I feel like Akechi is alive. I would think that Akechi slipped out of Shido’s palace right before his shadow could shoot him and he ended up in a coma from his injuries. They had to keep his injuries and coma a secret otherwise the existence of the other world would be known by the world. This explains his gap of memories between the palace and third semester. Him slipping out of the palace would also explain the “lost his signal” part Futaba mentioned. One more thing is that Akechi never once confirmed his death. I think he played along Joker’s perception that he is dead so he can make him fight against the false reality. Maruki only allowed joker to meet Akechi again, and “granting” his wish of wanting Akechi to be alive. (From joker’s standpoint, Akechi is dead) From the ending where we accept Maruki’s offer, we know he can change the personality of people too, example being, well, Akechi. If he can change the personalities of people too, then he very well could have changed Akechi’s personality so they are truly friends/ rivals. Yet we got the “real” Akechi. As for the last scene, I guess it can be left as ambiguous. I personally think that it is a nod to Akechi’s “I will crave my own path” speech. That is his way of saying goodbye to joker. This is all just my interpretation of the events. Leaving his death ambiguous is a good choice tbh, but after almost 4 years, I choose to believe this answer.

my theory: that a shadow has entered his dying body .. as I wrote there should be a last P5 domain

I feel like this argument doesn't really matter in the end. It would matter more to me if the Akechi thing happened halfway through instead of right near the end.

Within the context of vanilla Persona 5, Akechi is without a doubt dead. Within the context of Royal, it’s a Schrödinger’s Cat situation.

Persona 6 as akechi 😂

my theory about Akechi still alive in Persona 5 Royal is : when akechi suddenly appear and turn himself to the police is the real Akechi, and suddenly they brought in to Maruki Reality. After they defeat Maruki and back to REAL Reality, its not the Reality of the 'Persona 5 Royal' but it is 'Persona 5' Reality. you know. .. . . MULTIVERSE !! Thats why MC suddenly in prison cuz its follow 'Persona 5' Storyline not the Royal one....

It’s been a while since I played royal but these are my thoughts Him being alive undermines the message of him “choosing his own fate/life” about how he’s tired of being controlled. And after all he did, saying he doesn’t regret it, saying all that stuff in the third semester and he’s allowed to be alive? What about futaba’s mom? Is she not allowed to come back alive? Idk I just find it so dumb they would this choice of leaving him alive after writing him like that. And before someone says “the final cutscene” I believe that’s just joker hallucinating/believing what he wants to believe/want. Cause if that really was akechi, why is he just allowed to roam freely? This is why I’m so mixed about akechi. And I haven’t even talked about bad game akechi which is more of a mixed bag for me

Hey! I’m playing through persona 5 right now and im 70 hours in. I didn’t know Akechi dies. Consider quitting youtube! Thank you!

Dead