New Final Boss Fight - Persona 5 Royal 

Rest in peace Billy Kametz, voice of Maruki 🙏 Strategy for this boss : go for the tentacles, discover their weaknesses and abuse it with baton pass. Killing one tentacle allows you to damage Azathoth but having more tentacles down allows you to do more damage to Azathoth. HIGHLIGHTS 00:00 Pre-battle 03:51 Phase 1 09:51 Phase 2 25:28 Azathoth Defeated 27:06 Victory ? 27:57 Adam Kadmon summon 29:58 Adam Kadmon Phase 1 32:50 Adam Kadmon Phase 2 38:20 Checkmate 40:50 Defeat ? 42:46 Animated escape helicopter cutscene 45:43 Final Battle 47:49 Defeat.

Everyone: something inspirational Akechi: DO YOUR JOB AS A PROTAGONIST AND KILL IT

Joker is P5: “I’ll just summon Satan to shoot God in the face!” Joker in P5R: “Fine, i’ll do it myself.”

"And I believe you called forth your power like this... Persona." "No, no. Akechi, show him the proper way." "PERSONAAAAAAAAUGH"

Maruki in the Azathoth phase: “Please reconsider, I don’t want to hurt you!” Maruki in the Adam Kadmon phase: “AND HERE COMES A GIANT FIST!”

Don't let this distract you from the fact that this probably means people believe cats become genuine helicopters.

Futaba: “Everyone is really low, can someone heal?" Ohh gee Futaba, I wonder who has the ability to do that

“Help me kill every last one of my regrets” *”I GAVE UP EVERYTHING!!!”* Hits different now.. Rest in Peace Billy, you put your heart into this and no one will forget

R.I.P Billy Kametz. He did a HELL of a job voicing perhaps one of my favorite "villains" of all time. He will be missed.

47:00 That’s not even Persona at that point. That’s just... Person.

Man, he took “i art thou, thou art i” a little too seriously

48:20 Maruki holding up his hand like that is exactly the same gesture Joker made when he believed he was going to be erased from reality before the Yaldabaoth fight. Interesting parallel.

"You shouldn't mistake our powers as being equal." *laughs in Izanagi-no-Okami Picaro*

Maruki’s English VA really pulled off those lines during the fist fight really well, as expected of Ferdinand von Aegir

47:10 News Headline: Counselor gets into a fist fight with student

The “I gave up everything! EVERYTHING!” Punched my heart harder than Joker punched Maruki

I love the little touch for the very last fight that even Joker's UI doesn't have a mask. This game is fantastic.

Can we just take a moment to appreciate the fact that a complete mortal's sheer fucking will was strong enough to summon THE GOD WHO BIRTHED THE UNIVERSE and then evolved it into THE EMBODIMENT OF PURE ENERGY AND POWER

39:43 Oh Goro, never change.

Guys, can we just talk about how beautiful the entire cutscene is where Joker is trying to save Maruki? I could *feel* how much he cared, the use of the piano part of Our Light is inspired, and... god, it's just perfect.

“I gave up EVERYTHING!!! EVERYTHING!!!! So WHY?!?!” This line always stuck with me. I’m sorry you found out too late Billy. Please Rest In Peace. What makes this hurt more is this character stood for “A world where no one suffers” 😕

47:00 two drunk guys in a parking lot

Maruki: “You shouldn’t mistake our powers as equal!” Me with a max level OP Kaguya Picaro: Laughs

"It's true that I turned my back on the original reality... BUT WHERE'S THE HARM IN THAT?! When it grows to be too much, too painful... every person deserves to escape that. Honestly, is best for a person's growth when they tackle their own hardships. But reality doesn't make that so feasible. No matter how hard you try, or work for so long, the smallest injustice can wipe it all out and leave you with nothing... don't you, of all people, understand that?" Right in the feels, every single time.

39:42 is by far Akechi's best line in royal, along with questioning mona's size as a chopper and not wanting to hear the word pancakes ever again

Start the journey with being falsely accused of assault..... End the journey assaulting your counselor.

“I gave up everything! EVERYTHING!!” This kills me every time.

R.I.P. Billy Kametz. His voice over as Maruki and so many other characters will never be forgotten ❤️

The most heartbreaking thing about Maruki is how loving and caring he is. He just wants people to be happy with their lives. It’s heartbreaking because he just wants the suffering to end, and it makes stealing his heart painful 😣

34:25 Not the best thing to be saying when surrounded by tentacles.

44:37 I love how this scene was used in the trailers to show Akechi struggling in pain, but in reality he just doesn't like being in a packed helicopter lmao

P5 final boss: literally a god P5R final boss: Student councilor

May Billy Kametz rest in peace, his performance as Dr. Takuto Maruki was perhaps his greatest ever and made Royal turn an already amazing game into one of the finest in a generation

I love his starting battle quote: "My Persona guides me." Personas are strength of heart made manifest. So he's REALLY saying "My heart guides me."

Maruki after finally being defeated by Joker “You’re pretty good.” It wouldn’t be Persona 5 without MGS boss battle references

*use me however you want* *surrounded by tentacles*

One of, if not the best, boss battles ever. Absolutely fantastic. Not just the design of his first phases, how cinematic it is, the emotion, the music, etc. Really makes me question how people say games can’t be art

Maruki literally looks like The World.

39:40 Everyone: We’ve come this far, ain’t giving up Akechi: Joker just do your effin job

47:30 “A reality where… no one suffers…” I keep coming back to this exact moment when I wanna cry a lil bit. Crushes my heart every time.

Like a lot of you, I came here after hearing the news... Billy was such an incredible voice actor and his legendary performance as Maruki will be immortalized for years to come. Rip Billy 🙏

Honestly the shot of Joker standing ready to fire is like the prettiest image in the game.

This is way better than the god of control. IMO

At 33:34 For some reason i am always touched when akechi tries to stop Maruki from becoming stronger because he says says if "we hesitate now we die" but akechi knows that if they win and Maruki is stopped, Akechi will go back to the reality where he is dead. He shooting at maruki because he is trying to save the rest of the team and wants them to live in the original reality in which he knows he is dead.

When Maruki said "A world where nobody suffers!!", it really hit me hard. I knew what I was fighting for the whole time, yet it was only at the moment that I was like "Oh god, what have I done?"

After finishing the original storyline: "Ok, so how can they top an ending that epic?" After "Checkmate!": "What are all these chills about??? Why am I tearing up??? Why is this so goooood???"

47:15 I Love that Jokers mask is gone. Even in his icon. Joker doesnt need his mask anymore. It was never his mask that was the rebel who saved the World. But Akira/Ren. Thats the One we have fighting here.

One of the things I love about this boss fight is that it simply wouldn't have happened if Maruki was the type to do absolutely anything to get his way. The normal plot hole that would be formed is, "If he wanted to get rid of them, couldn't he basically will them out of existence?" But since Maruki truly wants everyone to be happy, he can't even consider that possibility. Maruki is an insanely relatable antagonist. The boss fight begs two questions. 1. If you were in the Phantom Thieves' positions, would you give up a perfect, ideal life to reclaim the real world? And 2. If you were Maruki, would you do the same thing as him after watching the one you love suffer? For most people, I feel like the answer to both of these questions would be No for both. Even if they want to believe that they would stand up to Maruki, the majority of people have suffered in their lives. Mentally, Emotionally, even Physically. People would do anything to rid themselves of pain. And as for doing the same thing as Maruki, there's a reason that so many antagonists take vengeance. It's because it's realistic. People always want revenge when something bad happens to them or loved ones. So instead of trying to bring all of humanity to a better place, I firmly believe that most people would immediately jump to revenge against the world if they were given the power. Anyways I'm just saying that this boss fight is insanely good at hitting you in the feels because of this among multiple other things. Atlus did a damn good job.

When you realize a persona game has a final boss that doesn't disgust you and instead invokes feelings of sadness That's a good villain

Hate and love how the ending fist fight looks like a gta 5 mod

I swear ATLUS is going to make Mona-Copter merchandise

I just realised, in the car, if Makoto is driving, and Ann and Sumi are also in the front seats, and Ryuji, Joker, and Yusuke all take up the middle section, that means Futaba and Haru are sitting in the back with Akechi. Weird, huh?

"A reality where no one suffers..." Unfortunately, as is painfully obvious, life can't and won't ever be this way. Rest in peace Billy Kametz. May you live on through the impact you've left with your works.

39:08 This moment. This SINGLE moment made the entire game for me. I never thought they would be able to one-up shooting God in the face to save Christmas. Checkmate, P5R.

40:23 imagine being marukis persona and seeing THIS, bet yaldabaoth was like NO NOT HIM AND THAT GUN AGAIN

Rest in peace, Billy 🙏 Truly your performance with his character gave him so much life, and we'd never have Maruki without your stunning efforts. In my opinion, what hurts the most during this semester is that Maruki is trying his hardest to convince Joker to stay and have their "perfect" reality, and is only doing this for the happiness of others and yet, not for the sake of his own. He doesn't end up with Rumi in HIS reality, where it shows everyone is happy except himself, because he's content with seeing the world be free of its despair. And Maruki finally lets out all of his pain in 47:03

Going into this fight, I really never thought much of Maruki. Yes, he was an endearing confidant with an admirable goal. He simply wanted to erase everyone’s problems, and allow them to live out their happiest dreams. I liked him, and even during the many encounters with him during the 3rd semester, I really only thought of him as a **good** character. But, Jesus Christ... hearing him try his hardest to persuade you. Hearing him struggle desperately as he clings to his dream. Watching as the Phantom Thieves, in a stark contrast to what stood for up until now, literally destroy all of his hard work and ruined what little he had left. It was heartbreaking. I think the moment I started to realize just how human and how incredible he was as just a fictional character was when you beat him in the 1-on-1 fistfight, and he just- Screams. He yells and spazzes out in frustration. Maruki is not a villain. But he is a damn good antagonist.

This fight ended up being one of my all time favorite fights. Sure, Adachi, Nyx, and everything in this series all have their weights. But, seeing Maruki get dissected and all those red flags he shows only briefly. Then have his general kindness be warped into what it becomes is really good writing. What makes it hurt even more, is that the main character, in this case Joker. Actively ENABLED him as the story progressed, YOU as a player gave weight and power to his warped view of a scientist "Who just wanted people to be happy" the more you interact with him. You're actions in that world and changing peoples hearts inspires him to do the same and in the end you end up sympathizing with him. Sure we all know it's wrong, but given the chance, it wouldn't be an easy decision would it? THAT makes a fantastic villain, where that line is blurred. We know it's wrong, but we secretly wish that your true happiness is just a yes away.

Fun fact: Azathoth is known as the "Blind Idiot God with no sense or sight" Hardly a reliable fount of power for one to change reality

I finished royal today, and rewatching this all, it’s so emotional. The fist fight, Maruki had so much emotion. You can truly tell there was a lot of emotion behind it

The dialog during the fist fight with Joker is still one of the best VA performances I've heard. What a legend. Rest easy, Billy.

I'm waiting for the day when Phantom releases a video with the title "Can you one shot Maruki"

48:40 That Expressionless face, the sad music, the closing of his eyes He was ready to accept death He felt that there was no chance of redemption, until Joker caught him and wouldn't let go

Maruki: Don't mistake our powers as equal. Me, with a full team of Max Stat, Level 99, kitted out personas, preparing to use ultra boosted Shining Arrows: Oh don't worry, I'd never make such a mistake.

“And I believe you called forth your power like this....” “...Persona.” Goosebumps holy shit

Sorry, but I might turn gay after hearing Joker say “Checkmate” like that

39:17 Everyone else: Blah blah something motivational. Akechi: DO YOUR GODDAMN JOB!

That scene...in 45:45...god. Damn, Maruki's voice actor was epic in that scene of his punch fight with Joker. You can hear the anguish Maruki was carrying since he "lost" his girlfriend, and was afraid to accept the reality until now, but with that scene he let go his anger and sadness he holded for a long time, and the vc could do this perfectly

Maruki is a very special character to me, Thanks Billy for bringing us a performance none of us will ever forget.

it amazes me how calm/sane akechi is in cutscenes in stuff but in battle he just goes cuckoo crazy

Maruki: "You shouldn't mistake our powers as equal" Me with a level 99 Lucifer that absorbs physical so all of Maruki's attacks heal me: "yeah youre right"

The little fistfight with Dr.Maruki is absolutely heartbreaking, especially when he screams and has a little tantrum

40:00 is the coolest Persona has ever been tbh “I believe we can fly in the sky,” as he’s literally flying upwards, then “we can touch down on a star” as he lands is so perfect.

Maruki and akechi are amazing characters. I’m so happy that akechis character was fleshed our even more.

31:54 I guess in a way she’s like kasumi

3:05 this gave me chills when I first saw it. For some reason I really like when the antagonist(s) can do what the protagonist(s) can do, and it's extra points when everyone's caught off guard because like, WHY in their minds lol

I just realized that in the final fist fight, each punch does a bit less damage than the previous one -- both because the metaverse giving them power is crumbling away, and because they're just so, so damn tired. The tiniest of touches, Atlus. Bravo.

46:23 Ferdinand you've been hanging out with Dimitri too much

Ends off with a Fist fight 46:53 wait wasn’t that the thing that got him put under one year Probation and that’s how He ends it. I guess what goes around comes around in the end

Had to come back to this after hearing the news. This game helped me a lot during the pandemic where I was cut off from my friends, feeling hopeless, and Billy Kametz as Maruki was a huge part of that. He put everything into voicing this tragic and troubled character, and his performance left a huge impression on me and everyone else. *_The_* performance of his tragically short career. I hope wherever he is, he knows that his voice and his work will be remembered for years to come. Thank you, Billy.

When I first experienced this part it didn't really got me on the verge of tears, but I felt bad for Maruki. But after last year where everything went wrong including me and my best friend splitting apart, the last scene where Maruki breaks down as the palace fades away really hits home to me now. Now that I look at this scene, it comes across as how each person handles their grief. Maruki represents the guilt and pain of hardships, who wants to fix what was lost and is held back by his painful past. Joker represents the side of acknowledging those hardships, carrying those scars and being able to move forward. Needless to say it's like watching two halves of me going at it when I watch that part.

Beating this game after falling in love with Persona 5, the ending was emotional to me, not just because of how well written the end portion of the game was, but also that the journey was over. I didn't get that feeling from the OG game, but when the game ended, I legit started crying because, well, the game was over. I will forever be grateful to Persona 5 Royal for giving me the greatest experience and emotions in gaming.

Maruki is the only boss who doesn’t have “Blood of A Villain” playing before you fight him, therefore..... he’s not considered a villain even to the creators/directors of P5R

This was one of the most exhausting boss fights i have ever played, literally took me about one and a half hour of continous fighting to finish him off. sooo satisfying though when you finally beat him. p5 royal seriously is the best game i have ever played

RIP Billy Kametz. You gave us an amazing performance of one heck of a counselor and final dungeon. You will be missed

He's just a nice guy with doing the wrong thing. He just needed help.

Don’t get me wrong: this is a masterpiece, but when Maruki and Ren are punching each other, it looks like a drunken bar fight XD

Theory: During the Maruki fight I felt something was off. Despite being his persona, Maruki always referred his and Azaloth’s/AK’s power as separate. On top of that, we see in the flashbacks that Maruki could somewhat use Azaloth’s power to change small bits of reality without actually summoning him. This struck a chord because (as far as I know) not once in any other persona game, not a single persona user, good or bad, could use or hear there persona in the real world. So I looked a little closer and realized two things about the fight; one is Maruki’s outfit and the other is Adam Kadmon. I bisected our into laughter the first time I saw his outfit, he looked like he was trying to challenge Haru for the biggest forehead contest. But if you look close you can see three main details; his outfit is gold and white and his mask’s front is turned inward with the corner facing the front. As for Adam Kadmon, Maruki gives himself up to AK. This scene is what gave me the answer because I finally figured out what he is: Maruki is NOT a persona user, he is a failsafe. A fail safe so that Yaldaboath can continue his goal. As I mentioned with the armor, the gold, white, and slanted face are all symbolic to Yaldaboath; it’s one himself during the fight, it’s on the archangel bosses, and it’s on the common enemies during the climb up to him. So when Maruki surrenders himself to AK, he’s unknowingly pledging his allegiance to Yaldaboath. There’s only on part to this theory that unfortunately ends sorrowfully; Akechi. Think of it like this; Yaldaboath spends his time training Joker so he can fight Akechi and stop Shido, so that Yaldaboath can finally take control, but he’s watching Joker through all of this and still push on. Yaldaboath prepares for the fact that Joker might go and kill him next. So as a failsafe he plants part of himself in Maruki, a man drowned in sorrow, just wanting to let the pain of his girlfriend’s trauma to go away. Then Christmas Eve comes, Mementos fused with Tokyo. As the sinful shell destroys Yaldaboath’s main body, Azaloth awakens in Maruki. He shows Maruki Mementos and creates a world exactly to his liking, one where people give up on their dreams to avoid pain, where the run away from saving someone so they don’t get hurt. On top of that, the Phantom Thieves are out of the way because there all living their perfect lives. But Alzaloth miscalculates one thing; Joker’s wish and will. And his wish was to have Akechi alive again. Because of Akechi and his will to reject the reality given to him, the two people who Yaldaboath used as a test experiment turn against him, reawaken the Phantom Thieves, and kill him once again in the same way; shot through the head, shattering Maruki’s mask. Now the world is normal, but since we don’t know if the unused rehab scene with Akechi while Joker’s In Juve ever happened or not we don’t know if he’s dead. And if he is, then that makes this next scene even sadder. Once Joker gets on the train to leave, Yaldaboath try’s once last time to start his reign, through Joker. So he tries to tempt him, trick him into thinking Akechi’s still alive, Mementos is still there, all he has to do is stay and he can be a Phantom Thief again. But we already know happens, Joker tales of his glasses, closes his window, and leaves, causing Yaldaboath to be defeated once and for all. Sorry if this was really long it was just on my mind.

Phantom thieves: A perfect world is wrong! We want to go back! Starving people in Africa: *What?*

45:57 *"SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT, SNAKE!"*

44:56 *Phantom thieves all happy* Akechi: “Shit, I hoped he’d have been left there.”

Are we not gonna talk about how I believe was playing perfectly When joker was swinging up the lyrics were “We can fly up in the sky” And as he landed it was “Someday we may just be able to touchdown on the star” Maybe adam was a star because of how powerful it was idk just found the lyrics fitting

I just realised something, whenever you summon a persona you also lose your mask, you show your true self but when maruki used his persona he didn't lose his mask which really says a lot about him.

Maruki's palace is the BEST palace of the entire game. Change my mind.

47:04 that voice hit me a lot, you can feels Maruki's feelings of frustation and anger. I think that is what 120% sold me to adore him, the best kind of persons in my opinion are those whose feelings are understandable and visible, the ones that struggle, cry express they emotions. Honestly at first i was a bit sceptical about this to be the last boss but by the end Maruki surpassed both yaldabaoth and Shido, such one amazing character

Coming back after hearing the news about Billy. Hearing his voice and his acting during the last part of the fight brought tears into my eyes. Rest In Peace Billy Kametz. A man of your talents will be missed beyond belief

Finished this today. Gotta say, Maruki's points were almost making me regret the desicion to not accept this reality. But I knew it was for the best in the end, happiness doesn't solve everything. Even if we don't like it, we still need pain in our lives. He didn't have an ill intent or anything like other antagonist in the game. He just wanted everyone to be happy and no longer suffer. All in all I thought 3rd semester was an outstanding addition. Well done, Atlus. Well done.

"Joker! We're at a huge climactic moment where we need you to save the day. Activate your third awakening!" "Sorry guys. I didn't buy the dlc. How about I just use regular bullets instead?"

36:42 that building confirmed to be the strongest thing in reality to take multiple punches like that lmao

Rest In Peace Billy. You will always have a place in the hearts of many of your fans. Your performance as Dr. Maruki is one I will remember forever! I wish the best for his friends and family during this rough time.