Goro Akechi

"Have you finally pieced it all together? Case closed... This is how your "justice" ends."

- Goro Akechi, upon revealing his true colors to the Protagonist

""Justice? Righteous!? Keep that shit to yourselves!""

- Goro Akechi's Villainous Breakdown Goro Akechi is an antagonist (and one of the playable characters) of the video game, Persona 5.

He is voiced by Sōichirō Hoshi in Japanese original and Robbie Daymond in English dub.

Personality
Akechi is a great detective, being able to solve numerous cases and deal with people from the investigation agency smoothly. As a result, people called him "The Second Advent of the Detective Prince."

Despite his popularity, he is actually quite lonely and yearns to be loved. He was abandoned by his father, subsequently lost his mother to suicide, and never had any real friends.

He worked with his father, Masayoshi Shido, to gain acceptance, but at the same time secretly plotted to get revenge on him for abandoning him and his mother. He planned to ruin him while Shido is at the apex of his power.

After meeting and joining the party, he for the first time experiences how it feels to be happy together with friends, particularly the protagonist. Akechi both admires and envies him, since no matter his social standing and how others see him, the protagonist does not let anything stop him from making his own path. This made Akechi see the protagonist as the epitome of the very thing he could never have.

Trivia

 * There are many instances throughout the game that foreshadow the fact that Goro Akechi is the traitor:
 * At one point, he overheard the group discussing about pancakes which it was said by Morgana. Only Persona users can hear Morgana.
 * Even though he appeared on the title screen and game cover, he's the only party member who doesn't appear in the opening. Metawise, he is also the only one of your party members to not get their own commercial. He also does not appear with the rest of the party on the reverse artwork for the game's Steelbook Edition or on the collector's box for the Premium Edition.
 * The Phantom Thieves always refer to him by his last name to emphasize the distrust. In fact, everyone who joined the group is being called by their first names.
 * When he runs into the Phantom Thieves at the school festival, the first thing he says is "Oh, everyone's all here," as if he recognizes them. Futaba Sakura actually catches this.
 * He is the only party member who wears gloves in his civilian attire. While his gloves are befitting of the elegant image he presents to the outside world, they've also proved useful for Akechi when he commits crimes, like the staged murder-suicide of the main protagonist in the bad ending.
 * He joins the party near the time of the Casino Palace heist where Joker is successfully apprehended. The heist is his idea, and he uses leverage to prevent the party from backing out.
 * He insists you raid the Casino on a certain date, unlike every other Palace thus far, because he set the trap that day.
 * Akechi is similar to the following villains:
 * Tohru Adachi from Persona 4. Other than being hidden Persona antagonists, both have affiliations with the police, pretended to be friends with the protagonist, used their personas to murder people, secretly harbored psychopathic traits, and were ultimately pawns of the true antagonist.
 * Joshua Kiryu from The World Ends With You. Both are smart teenagers that befriended the heroes, but eventually revealed to be the antagonists themselves and successful killed the heroes. Despite their treachery, they really wanted to become friends with them.
 * Light Yagami from Death Note:
 * Both have brown-hair and are dressed in a suit and tie.
 * Both are great detectives.
 * Both are master manipulators.
 * Both are psychopaths.
 * Both wanted to succeed their fathers. Unlike Akechi, Light succeeded.
 * Both have their twisted way of "justice".
 * Both gained god-like powers (Personas and Death Note).
 * Both died in the end.
 * Carl Bruner from Ghost. Both are friends of the protagonists at first, but became enemies with them when their treachery has been revealed. They even have successful careers (Akechi worked as a detective, Carl worked as a banker).
 * Lex Luthor from the DC Extended Universe. Both are youthful and intelligent but tragic villains who are abused by their fathers which led to them becoming evil. They sought to become more powerful than their fathers ever were. They are not only childish and nerdy, but also manipulative and psychopathic.
 * Darth Vader from Star Wars:
 * Both have sympathetic backstories which made them into tragic villains.
 * Both worked for the main villains, but secretly wanted to overthrow them (Masayoshi Shido and Emperor Palpatine).
 * Both died in redemption of helping the heroes.
 * Andrew Detmer from Chronicle:
 * Both are teenagers that are being abused by their fathers.
 * Both gained power which they ended up using it for evil (Akechi has his Personas, Andrew has his telekinetic powers)
 * Both loved their mothers.
 * Both eventually become psychopathic.
 * Both attempted to kill their fathers out of revenge for their abuse but they failed.
 * Both died in the end.
 * Joker from The Dark Knight:
 * Both manipulated various individuals for their own gain.
 * Both seemed to be non-threatening at first, but shown to be psychopathic once their true natures are revealed.
 * Both act on the interest of a villainous party, but they were only using them and then planned on betraying them.
 * Both have daddy issues.
 * Both are narcissists and nihilists.
 * Both used someone to help them against their fight with the heroes (the Joker used his dogs, Akechi used the Shadows).
 * Both took their defeat well.
 * Rameses from The Prince of Egypt. They started out as friends with the protagonist, but eventually their ambition got the better of them, and they became the main antagonist and opposed the hero.
 * Prince Hans from Frozen. They are first shown to be supporting the protagonists, but is eventually revealed to be only manipulating them for their own ends to become the heroes they believed of. They even killed the main protagonists and staged it to avoid being implicated (Akechi shot the Protagonist on the head and made it look like he committed suicide, Hans left Anna to die from Elsa's icy curse and made it look like Elsa is responsible for it).
 * Gary Smith from Bully. At first, they're willing to become friends with the heroes and help them, but eventually betrayed them for their agendas. They also have brown hair and are psychopaths.