Persona 5 Strikers tells a compelling story in a lot of different ways. Its antagonists are different from most Persona 5 Palace rulers; rather than being objectively evil and selfish people, many Monarchs were once good people who became menaces to society after their traumas embittered them. Persona 5 Strikers also introduces a couple of charming new protagonists who develop relationships with the Phantom Thieves, including the innocent AI Sophia and the offbeat detective Zenkichi Hasegawa. It may not be a traditional Persona game, but Persona 5 Strikers builds on the Phantom Thieves' work as well as a standard sequel would.
However, Persona 5 Strikers does fall short by ignoring a core character from Persona 5. Throughout the events of the original game, Joker and the Phantom Thieves interact with Goro Akechi, the charismatic teenage detective who grows into a chief rival for the Phantom Thieves. As players progress, they learn there's more to Akechi than meets the eye, but that only further emphasizes his importance in deciding the fate of the Phantom Thieves. In spite of that role, Akechi isn't acknowledged whatsoever. Persona 5 Strikers should have made room for Akechi in the Phantom Thieves' conversations, even if he never appeared in person.
Akechi's Importance in Persona 5
Akechi is crucial as a rival to Joker and the Phantom Thieves in Persona 5. His friendship with Joker is founded on their opposing beliefs, and for much of the game he offers an alternative perspective on justice, pitting his dedication to the law against Joker's willingness to bend the rules in the process of punishing evildoers. While he never truly shakes the Phantom Thieves, he serves as a source of motivation. Akechi represents society's doubt in the Phantom Thieves and reminds them to work hard at proving their doubters wrong.
At the same time, Akechi ultimately turns out to be a close companion to the Phantom Thieves, especially in his final hours. Many of the Phantom Thieves are motivated to join the group because they've been spurned and mistreated by the adults in their lives, and Akechi is no different. Although it remains secret for much of Persona 5's plot, Akechi is an orphan who blames his difficult childhood on a father who abandoned his mother. Those difficulties make him more relatable to the Phantom Thieves than most enemies they face.
Perhaps most importantly, Akechi's role in Shido's Palace makes him pivotal for their ultimate victory. Akechi had the opportunity to continue his betrayal and kill the Phantom Thieves, but instead he seemingly sacrifices his life so that they can escape and change Shido's heart. Multiple characters die over the course of Persona 5, but nobody else gives up their life for the cause of the Phantom Thieves. Akechi's fate by the end of Persona 5 is ambiguous, but the Phantom Thieves are clearly led to believe that he's dead, meaning he's a martyr for their cause. There's no doubt that seeing their complicated rival sacrifice his life would impact the Phantom Thieves for the rest of their lives.
Persona 5 Strikers and Akechi's Disappearance
Since Akechi played such a major part in the Phantom Thieves' story, it's very strange to see no explicit mention of him throughout Persona 5 Strikers. No matter how deeply the Phantom Thieves reflect on their individual journeys, as well as their growth as a group, Akechi never comes up. The closest Persona 5 Strikers comes to mentioning Akechi is when Akane is talking to Joker and his friends about the Phantom Thieves and mentions there may have been a ninth member she forgot.
It's hard to believe that this is the extent of Akechi's place in the Phantom Thieves' minds after what he did, especially since it's only been about nine months since the Phantom Thieves lost Akechi in Shido's Palace. Even if the Phantom Thieves don't feel comfortable discussing Akechi with Sophia or Zenkichi, his part in Persona 5 is too big to justify him disappearing from the plot. Akechi's sacrifice seems like it would be a chief motivator for returning to action when Jails start cropping up, since he gave his life to keep the Phantom Thieves in action.
Akechi's absence seems particularly egregious when considering Persona 5 Strikers' Monarchs. Persona 5 has a lot of simple villains, but Persona 5 Strikers features complicated characters who the Phantom Thieves sympathize with, even though they're determined to defeat each Monarch. They have a very similar relationship with Akechi in Persona 5; although they're resolved to outsmart and defeat him, the Phantom Thieves do express their empathy for his hard life. One would think that the Monarchs and their Jails would prompt a natural comparison with Akechi, and yet he never comes up, which seems like a major missed opportunity.
Akechi's Future in Persona
To an extent, it's understandable that Atlus wanted to avoid the topic of Akechi. His status is left ambiguous in Persona 5, and even more so in Persona 5 Royal's true ending. If Akechi made a miraculous return in Persona 5 Strikers, it would ruin the mystery of his fate. Still, even if Akechi never appeared, he could've still been a topic of discussion in Persona 5 Strikers.
In a way, Akechi's absence from Persona 5 Strikers might reflect his overall position in the Persona franchise. The detective prince proved to be a highly popular character among Persona 5 fans, so naturally Atlus could want to use him again. However, having him make canonical appearances in future Persona games could soil one of the main questions that Persona 5 is supposed to leave fans grappling with. Significant as that dilemma is, Atlus may have overcorrected in the case of Persona 5 Strikers. Akechi's fate may be a mystery, but the consequences of his actions still deserve to be felt throughout the rest of the Persona 5 family of games.
Persona 5 Strikers is available now on PC, PS4, and Switch.