I love Makoto. She's my favorite character to play and to romance. Her confidant story was confusing to me at first but after researching a bit it finally made sense. Also going on discovering fun things to do together when on dates. Plus she doesn't look too bad in a bikini either.
I will say that as an adult myself, Kawakami was my personal favorite (as in who *I* personally would have wanted to date), but the whole student/teacher part was a bit too icky for me. For Joker though (an impulsive and sarcastic but kind-hearted high school kid with a flair the dramatic), him and Makoto (the calculating and reserved but hot-tempered class president with an unbreakable sense of justice) are both ADORABLE together and they just flat-out make a good team. They make up for each other's flaws in a way that none of the other romances do, IMO.
There's a bit in Tactica that I love and it's if he goes with her during the Yoshiki mission, it's when she's getting heated when surrounded by the guards treated like shit and she's about a couple seconds from beating them up, Ren's options are to either calm her down (doing so makes them sound like a couple, which as someone that played Tactica after beating Royal and having them romanced, fit) or encourage her, at which point HARU is the voice of reason. They're so good together. Edit: Forgot to mention Strikers and how it basically just operates under the assumption that they're together. They're the ones seen next to each other a LOT, Ren's wearing what it implied to be her Christmas gift to him (a watch), she feeds him like every other city, her date is the only one that she asks is one outright and doesn't deny it if he says yes, they raise a kid (well, another one), and her final gift in the game is the most romantic coded one, that being a matching pair of key chains.
@@elae4051 The downside is that not only this kinda spits at other players who preferred someone else but also not really confirming ShuMako either. It's why I hung out with the boys near the end of the game, those bonds were tight.
I was an avid Makoto hater for years. In my life, I was never expected to do anything other than get a job and go to college. I had always put the bare minimum effort into anything to get by. So I couldn’t understand why she was trying so hard when the results would be the same later in life after highschool. I hated Makoto for getting into the Team’s business and how she was so obsessed with that one random girl. If it were up to me, at the time, I would let Eiko rot and learn from her own mistakes. However in 2020 I went through a very bad and controlling relationship. It wasn’t until early 2021 that I understood and sympathized with Makoto. Always feeling as if your actions aren’t your own. Bringing up your own thoughts and ideas, only for them to get ignored or shut down. Makoto goes out of her way to help Eiko and I refused to understand because I myself don’t get intimately involved with random people like that, only surface level. Her constant pursuit of Eiko used to make me think “Why the hell are you going so far for someone you don’t even know and who seems like they don’t even care about themselves?!” to now making me think “Man, maybe I should pursue people and really try to help, even when I don’t know them.” On top of it all, she’s constantly trying to improve and be better not just socially, but as a person. That’s something I can respect and what I’ve been trying to do over these last couple years.
@@randysvids4774 I wouldn’t say typical blonde I’ve met blondes who are kinda assholes but Ann is different she’s really sweet and cares for her friends
Makoto is a beloved character, or else she wouldn’t rank so high in the popularity poles. The downside is that popular characters have a very loud hatedom.
@@akai3974Ann dosnt get much hate. Bur she does have one the best social links in the game, also considering she’s the lovers arcana. But she’s not very much liked a lot by others due to her character arc ending after Kamoshidas palace. She dosnt have many outstanding roles after, unless you wanna count her acting against yusuke and shidos palace.
My first playthrough I ranked her pretty high, my second playthrough made her my outright favorite in both 5 as a whole (Royal, Strikers, Tactica) and one of my favorite Persona characters by far. There is a TON to unpack with her, and doing so led to a much greater appreciation for her and how she parallels Ren in a different way that Akechi does (a clear way to see this is how Tactica frames Toshiro and a certain someone). Probably the only romance I ever go out of my way to do since, to me, it completes the story with how much of a role she plays before and after she joins, how the narrative parallels Sojiro and Ren's relationship getting warmer vs her and Sae's getting colder until the end, how shes Ren's second in command, and how her plan in the interrogation room and her spearheading his release from juvie is made sweeter on the romance route. Yeah, she's fantastic.
this was a good analysis of makoto's character. never will understand why she's disliked. especially when i consider her to be much more complex and interesting than other characters like ann or morgana. you should do a video on joker himself since believe it or not there is a personality and character arc to be found within our silent protagonist. should save him for last after all the other phantom thieves get their own respective analysis though. always save the best for last.
I can agree her character is interesting she’s not my favorite tho that goes too Ann but I feel like I don’t hate any of the main cast of characters sure I do like them more then others but there overall really good and interesting characters
@@NiteF0X i said that in reference to the people that say she's "overrated" or popular for no reason in the community. i think she's fairly rated and on the more interesting side at least in comparison to some of the characters who showed up before her (ann and morgana).
@@Reseptics everyone in terms of the main cast are super interesting it’s just I do find Ann, joker maybe even Haru more interesting but I still like Makotos, character Futaba even Morgana is pretty interesting and Ryuji the 1 who started it all
Haru absolutely deserves more love, pity she didn't get more screen time. Justice for the dangerous floof. I vibe with her as I am also a bit sadistic at times, despite being soft-spoken. XD
I thought her and joker had chemistry, one forced and guided by fate and the other guided by the conventions of life, both devoid of choice in a way. It only made sense to me how both of them would wish to both help and escape those ties. I think they could probably relate the most to each-other From a tactical standpoint it also makes sense, as the advisor she has responsibility to assist in joker’s leadership, so them getting to know each other and be close only made sense to me.
It's a character that's either hated or loved in the west and absolutely loved in Japan, if not far eastern Asia in general. A LOT of P5R translate very poorly into western culture - Akechi and Shido motivations, Makoto's character; several confidants like Iwai. It just comes across differently for us since the game touches topics important for the Japanese and we subconsciously appropriate it to our own setting.
I had never once considered how these characters were written in relation to Japanese society. I guess I'll have to play through Persona 5 for a seventh time and try to notice lol
@@egonyt well it's very clear with Shido for example. Spoilers incoming for anyone interested. Feeling like you are built different is a weak motivation in the west were everyone thinks that, but Japan that has a strong societal ladder and was ruled by people like this for centuries and was not-so-long-ago imperialist with a strong worship of their leaders? Yeah that hits more. In fact "I was chosen by God to be at the top" villain is a common trope in Japan.
I don't either lover her or hate her. I don't get why there's rarely any in-between and always the two extremes here now. What happened to being neutral?
@@egonyt For real?! I mean there's Japanese culture all over and it takes place in real Japanese locations so that's surprising to me. But yeah, Japanese culture is messed up in some ways.
I do somewhat understand the people who dislike Makoto due to her spending a large chunk of the beginning of the game being Kobayakaya’s lackey and a perceived goody two shoes. She was an antagonistic character for far longer than others.
Lest not forget she blackmail you then crys how mean it was when she was blackmailed ,and smiles as she mocks Ann about her friend geting ra$ed. Her sister has been through more and only falls tords the end.
@@robertchapman7451and then rushes into a mafia bosses club and acts incredibly stupid, and then immediately gets called the "smart" one of the group.
@@robertchapman7451 and then she proceeds to act all high and mighty, gets named queen and then consistently asks "Do you want to get slapped"? Like she's the leader 😭
Wasn't half the community hating her just a meme on the fact she was the most popular girl in the community..? I feel like I didn't catch the sarcastic tone if the meme nature of that was implied somewhere in the video.
When I did my first playthrough for Persona 5 Vanilla. I was trying to romance Ann, but end up friend zoning her. However, I was able to Romance Makoto on my first playthrough, and without a guide.
I love Makoto as a character so much. The way I see it, romancing Makoto feels closest to realisticly romancing a keeper. From the outside she is seen as a perfectionist who excels at everything and a masculine girl that looks like she's gonna rip your arm off. However, as the MC started to get closer to her, she gradually exposed her flaws as a human being and her kind nature that blossomed into her sense of justice. When she became the MC's gf she comfortably rely on him and even happily showed him her soft side and her inner child, it's such a charm when such adorableness and trust is reserved only for the MC. Gotta admit her social link story is lacking compared to other confidents in and outside the team. I always romance her in any playthrough i've made before. I also like Haru cuz her kindness can melt hearts, but passing on someone u already have a liking to wait for someone you haven't met yet is a bit unrealistic so I went with Makoto anyway. Makoto and Haru to me felt like a more matured Chie and Yukiko, a cute duo with a bit of twist to spice up the character
Oh and fun fact, I took some Aikido classes back when I was a small kid, enough that I can tell you Makoto did 0 aikido in the game 😂 Aikido is more of a defensive style and it works mostly based on manipulating the force of your offensive opponent, meanwhile Makoto just straight of muda muda muda all over the place 😂
I didn't really like her Social Link, the whole thing with the girl her shady boyfriend was a wasted opportunity in my opinion. Makoto was right from the very beginning. That girl was working in a shady place, her boyfriend was a shady guy, Makoto suspected as much and was right. End of the story. She grows as a character in other circumstances, but there's no personal growth in that situation, she already had the right answer from the start. It would've been more interesting if the shady looking job turned out to be normal job and the shady looking boyfriend turned out to be a nice dude. It would've been a way for Makoto to learn that just because things look a certain way it's always worth to go beyond appearances, there's more to people than what they look like and their job/social standing. Her whole life before joining the Phantom Thieves had been about being an honor student and looking good in the eyes of figures of authority, it would've been a nice way for her Social Link to contrast those themes. But I do like Makoto as a character, she was my choice for romance during my second playthrough (first was Kawakami). I liked the fact that when she joined the group she brought some much needed brains to the team lol. It felt nice to have someone who took things a bit more seriously and I also liked her relationship with her sister and the insight we get on the investigation and the police when we see Makoto interact with Sae
We needed another girl to join since like Ren said to many dudes I like Makotos character too until she got to saes palace I liked her a lot more Ann had already been my favorite and Futaba then since both are hilarious and Futaba with her spunky attitude
you're right. makoto (in her confidant story) need to make mistakes, either more mistake or a great mistake, and then get thrown into a crisis, then fail, suffer a big loss, only then we'll see her truly grow. instead she's just proven right, and then she wins. she's too much of a 'girl boss' character to my liking.
Dating makoto is just a power move story wise. your sitting in a room telling sai everything that's happened so far and you have to look her in the eye and say i fucked your sister at this point, and from that point on when cutting to sai your both reminded you are having relations with her sister. Tbh my first time playing makoto was a rebound, i started P5 knowing nothing except some characters, so i came in aiming for futaba because i loved the orange hair, turns out she has some pretty strict stat requirements if you also include sojiro with it, as time was ticking on and i wasn't sure i could get sojiro maxed so i settled for makoto. I learned to enjoy makoto after that, always in my party because she is a wonderful party member, bulky, can hit hard, heals well. She is smart and strong, but very loving to you when nobody is looking, not sure i would go for her again in another playthrough but i enjoyed my time with her. I dont need a reason to relate or like her, its about having fun, and makoto was fun. Sorry for rambling and making a mess of this post i just saw this video in my feed and wanted to put down my thoughts.
That's a really interesting perspective, I don't think I ever used Makoto as a healer, mainly relying on her for stat-boosting moves and nuclear damage
in recent years, the mindset of must do big heals and nothing else has become obsolete. Nowadays being a good enough healer works just as good, and the power you save by being just good enough can be allocated to killing the enemy faster so they cant do more damage. Makoto does very well in that regard along with the utility you have stated@@egonyt
😁👍makoto is a great character like the other phantom thieves in the game, I never hated her character or development in all the games that came out, she levelheaded, mature, and just around a great straight man to the crazy attics of the rest of the group, yes a great romance partner but always everyone is in persona 5 except the drunker reporter, but i digress my guess is why she's hated is the popular thing she was very popular in the west, and than as time goes by people say she's overhype or not that great, like itachi from naruto or gojo from jujutsu kaisen, i dont believe this just why theory why she gets the undeserve hate.
I'll be real. It was Makoto's social link that soured me on the character. If the social link was more about her and her sister I would have loved it, but we had to spend almost half the link trying to save a hoe that didn't want to be saved. Easily one of my least favorite social links in P5 due to the wasted potential, because like you said Makoto is super important to the plot of P5
I can understand that and it would've be nice to get more screentime for their relationship but i think we go something equally important. From the start she wanted to help people(specifically the students) so her SL reflects that. 1. by her telling us about her dad saving people and that driving her to try changing the system by becoming a officer to help people she can't rn. And 2 helping The "hoe" literally is her job and part of her aspirations. It's also something she needed to encounter now which is trying to save someone on a self destructive path that doesn't want help, something that she will deal with in the future. Btw that "hoe" was the only friend of hers with the same childhood interest that we see besides the PTs and while it may not be fun and interesting I thought it was on the same level as the other Social links in building character at least.
At first Makotos awakening was amazing the thing with her is that the other characters have had a connection with the antagonist for a bit not with Kaneshiro but until she wanted to change Saes heart I though she was better there
i adore Makoto as a character, but I would agree with some people who think her social links are kind of boring. As a character she's great, but I think she kind of plays a supporting role in her own story for the game. Some of it makes sense, but her sl revolves around saving Eiko, which is interesting, but the mobster stuff already felt done with Kaneshiro's palace and Eiko's story feels a lot like Haru's to me. It kind of has a boring climax at the end where you just tell the guy off instead of making sure he can't do anything like this again. again, I think makoto as a character is the best and most interesting member of the phantom thieves and love interest but her personal storyline could have used some more looking at
Personally I think a lot of people lack the maturity to really understand what Makoto is going through and what she overcomes. They should face their shadow or some shit, either way it’s like those supposed “persona” fans play the game with their eyes shut to me
She's easily my least favorite of the Phantom thieves. Her social link is basically reaffirming her that she's right instead of learning that you can't always go by stereotypical assumptions. She pretty much becomes the de facto leader and makes Joker feel irrelevant, everybody kisses their ass about being the team tactician when 5 Seconds earlier she's the reason we ended up getting a debt to kaneshiro. I never will understand people's love for her personally. She always has this condescending energy about her that I cannot stand
the problem is Makoto practically blackmails the team into doing her dirty work and judges them while barely lifting a finger. she gets better but that beginning set of interactions just poisons my opinions 2:00 it would have been nice if she did that from the start, you hear a conversation prior to this where the student body shows mistrust of her
I mean what was she supposed to do at that time. She didn’t know what the thieves were like for all she knew they were horrible people, even though Deep down she knew they were good people she still wanted them to help and rebel against the people blackmailing the shujin students. Plus yusuke and futaba basically did the same thing as her. Futaba threatened the thieves to change her heart at the begging, yusuke threatened to call the police on them and wouldn’t do it as long as Ann became his model
@@alimuhammad7370 Makoto was supposed to be someone that helps students, and everyone distrusted her, Yusuke is on my sh*t list too and as far as Futaba is concerned she's the only one I will excuse since her mental state was practically destroyed at the time
@@aaron75fy bro did you even play the game? That’s the whole point she always thought adults were right and That she should only listen to them. Your saying she should’ve helped the students when she was dealing with mafia. What can a normal high school girl do in a situation like that, nothing is the answer your looking for. That’s why she threatened the thieves to solve a problem with the school and prove to her that they are innocent and are only trying to help. Not to be rude but you’re just judging these characters without knowing their reasons for their choices. Yusuke wanted to believe the man that took him in was a nice person that he would never do such horrible things. Futaba just wanted to be saved from her pain, Makoto just wanted to help the students and be useful to someone.
Idk why but it's the first time and I hate tbh about it, I had a very hard crush on a 2D Video Game Character. Keep in mind that Im living with my gf for 3 years now and I love her so much but still when I played p5r I still got a crush on fkn Makoto. Then I thought about it and I see many traits I see in my gf in her. Still I'm ashamed for having a crush on a fictional character while living with the right woman by my side. I don't get it, why can't I be normal? 😅 I can't talk to anybody about this, so I gotta leave my worries here.
Clearly the best choice? I'm sorry, but this is subjective, and although I do like Makoto, I'm personally a big fan. Her personality doesn't do it for me.
Honestly there are so many things holding her back for me liking her firstly until she awakens her persona she acts very rude for little reason and continues to do so but to a far lesser extent later secondly her persona awakening is far worse than other characters because she has no connection to Conashero and this goes for the whole palice but this all can be overlooked later but it still leaves me conflicted because there are other characters that are far better introductions than her yet she has a far better message than others after the introduction
After watching the video all I can say is I genuinely have no clue what you're talking about. Like, she's a great character but this didn't justify the odd hyperfixation on her as a romantic interest other people have I just don't get it.
@@cynicalpepper A lot of people deem it "canon" (take that with a grain of salt) because she shares some of the most intimate moments with Joker other than Yoshizawa (also considering the fact that Yoshizawa got added later on in the Franchise's lifespan with Persona 5 Royal, which would presumably be after people might've already been quite deadset on Makoto being the right love interest for Joker, is another reason why Makoto may be preferred over Yoshizawa and others). They have this canon moment In P5, P5R, where Joker saves Makoto's life from a falling pillar that would've killed her, followed by them having a moment of gazing into each others' eyes. This even happens in the Persona 5 Anime, but instead of in Futaba's palace it happens in Sae's on the roulette board. In Persona 5 Strikers, it can be hypothesized that the watch Joker is wearing is actually the watch that Makoto gives him as a Christmas Present in P5(R). She also is the only character to respond to the dialogue during the ferris wheel with nothing but acknowledgement and no denial of it actually "being a date" if the player chooses the dialogue option that refers to it as such in P5Strikers. Also, near the end of Strikers, the gift she gives you is a matching keychain, which is the most resemblant gift of a couple when compared to the other gifts the rest of the girls give. Beyond their pretty easily perceptible chemistry (I mean come on, the whole part where Makoto stalks Joker can easily boiled down to just her doing it for her investigation into the Phantom Thieves; but it's also rather safe to say that in doing so, she must have been intrigued in some way or another of what Joker is actually like as an individual, especially when still dealing with the what I can only assume would be lasting tremors of those terrible and hefty rumors surrounding him - and later on the "I'd like to study on the subject of Romance, but I can't do that alone, so will you be my partner?" element of how their romantic relationship can be oficially initiated, ties in super well to the rest of her Confidant/Social Link where Joker is teaching her about taking time out of your day for recreational activities and all these other sorts of facets of life, such as romance - all of these things (and others that I can think of) should make it relatively easy to see people's vision for these 2 being together.
I watched the video because I genuinely wanted to know, honestly? Dunno the hype behind makoto. Video was a great take though. Helped a lot, still don’t like her tho lol.
