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| “ | Akira: Let's say you had been around back then. Could you have saved me from my father? I had nowhere to run. I was just a scared, helpless child left to suffer by himself. Well? Could you really have saved me? Even now, there are surely others being brought up in the same hell that I was. And yet you've done nothing to help them. Makoto: Well, that's... Akira: You only destroy the evils you just happen to come across, but you'll never save everyone. Me, however, I have the power to change the entire world. No one will ever have to suffer as I did ever again. |
„ |
| ~ Akira asking the thieves if they could have save him from his father. |
| “ | There aren't any real heroes left. So... why not make our own? The world needs someone willing to fight for its people's justice. A hero to lead them. To unify them. A hero like me! | „ |
| ~ Akira Konoe |
Akira Konoe is the secondary antagonist of the 2020 action-adventure video game Persona 5 Strikers, the spin-off sequel to Persona 5.
He is the CEO of the multi-billion company, Madicce. Throughout the game, his company is well known for the creation of an AI called EMMA, though specifically, he originally bought it from Kuon Ichinose, the real creator. It is later revealed that he is responsible for the jails and selecting their rulers to steal the hearts of others. He believes by doing this there would be peace in the world.
He is voiced by George Ackles in the English and Toru Okawa in the Japanese.
Appearance[]
Akira is a 28 year old man who has a riffed haircut and a simple mustache and goatee. He wears a striped blue suit with a white shirt underneath it and white shoes.
Like Shido from the previous game Persona 5, Konoe's shadow self remains the same until he transforms into his "hero" form. His hero form mimics his childhood hero, Zephyrman. The outfit is a silver Sentai Ranger outfit and has a short white cape attached to it. He also wears a white helmet that obscures his face in battle. In the first phase, he controls a Zephyrus Mech. In the second phase, He wields a lightsaber for upfront combat.
Personality[]
Konoe is a delusional man that believes in a misguided sense of justice. Believing that his goal is for the jails and monarchs to steal humanities hearts in order to erase evil in the world. He is willing to use his status as CEO to have EMMA create the jails and place the monarchs of certain individuals to control them. Konoe is even partnered with a corrupt politician named Jyun Owada, a former supporter of Masayoshi Shido and the murderer of the hit and run accident of Aoi Hasegawa, Zenkichi's wife. Konoe's very deluded behavior and flawed sense of justice came from his abusive childhood in the hands of his influential father. In those years, Konoe looked up to his childhood hero Zephyrman, a character of an obscure spin-off series of Phoenix Ranger Featherman.
Later on, Konoe's father revealed to his son what happened to his mother by saying that he killed her for money which she didn’t give him and thought of killing him too out of spite. Since there was nobody to save Akira from the abuse that he was going through, he had enough. He took things in his own hands by killing his father in self-defense. When the police questioned Akira, he claimed that his father was killed by an armed robber and hid inside a closet to avoid getting caught. The police believed him because many objects were missing in the household, so they let him go not knowing the full truth of what happened.
Konoe later in his life genuinely wanted to do good but thought ridding the world of evil would benefit everyone in order to live happy lives but formed through his own sense of justice. His misguidedness gets worse when it endangers innocent people like Akane Hasegawa, Zenkichi's daughter, who was forcefully turned into a monarch by EMMA. Despite all of his actions, Konoe shows signs of ignorance mainly through his over reliance on EMMA which leads the AI to choose Akane to deal with the Phantom Thieves without him knowing. He even despises Owada and hates that he is working with someone like him, showing that Akira is aware of the politicians many crimes and wanted to get rid of him.
In the end after his defeat with the Phantom Thieves, he willingly gives up, understanding that his sense of justice is flawed and that it does not help anyone not even himself. In the real world, he reveals his crimes to the public and is going to shut down EMMA for the better while also willingly handing himself over to the police. In the final epilogue of the game, Konoe gave a final testimony that leads to the arrest of Owade, revealing the politician's many crimes that includes the hit and run accident of Zenkechi's wife.
Biography[]
Past[]
Konoe grew up in an abusive household of his cruel and influential father. On one occasion, the police were called due to receiving reports of abuse but his father, who was a well known, affable, and wealthy man was able to sway the officer away. This angered him believing his son, Akira was telling people of what's going on in the house. One day, his father approached Akira to hurt him and revealed that he had killed his mother for money which she refused to give him, showing how greedy and cruel he is. Out of anger, Konoe’s father tells him that he views him as a bill, claiming that his son eats his hard earned money. His father also admits that he could’ve killed him too with his mother and decides to act on it. Akira, feeling that no one is going to help him from the suffering that he is facing, decides to defend himself from his father by stabbing him to death. When the police questioned Akira, he claimed that his father was killed by a robber. Since several objects were missing in the household, they believed him and let him go, allowing Akira to get away with murder.
As a grown man, Konoe founded Madicce and meets Kuon Ichinose. She sells the AI EMMA to him so he can popularize it through his company. Because of his past traumas, he wanted to modify the app to make a world devoid of evil by erasing the thought from humanity. Afterwards his company became well known and successful. Konoe loaned a research lab in Okinawa in order to study cognitive psience and left his chief researcher Shuzo Ubukata in charge. After experimenting on EMMA, he later became a monarch after creating a jail based on the research lab. Eventually, Ubukata was driven insane and committed suicide when Konoe told him to hand over his desires. Its implied that Konoe is responsible of Ubukata’s suicide.
Persona 5 Strikers[]
Konoe first appears during a lecture in Kuon Ichinose's university, where he talks about EMMA and her features. After he leaves, Ichinose tells the Phantom Thieves that she invited him to the university. After the Thieves investigated the Okinawa jail and discovered the suicide of the Shuzo Ubukata, they discover that he is Konoe's chief researcher and that Konoe is responsible for the jails. With this Information, they plan to expose Konoe for forcefully changing the hearts of others and trapping the monarchs within them. But Konoe after framing the Phantom Thieves as terrorist, has stated that the Thieves have hacked into EMMA stealing much information from the public, which forces him to close the application in the meantime. He falsely claims that the Thieves are also responsible for the murder of Shuzo Ubukata. This framing of the Phantom Thieves caused more of the public to go against them.
In the office of the police commissioner, Owada has ordered Miyako Kaburagi to arrest the Phantom Thieves with full force and trust Konoe to track them. But in reality, Konoe despises him and turns to EMMA for advice on what to do. She suggests using a nearby jail to trap the thieves in order to change their hearts for the better and have a close friend of the Thieves be placed as the monarch, if that plan fails then he will have no choice but to kill them. EMMA chooses Zenkichi's daughter Akane Hasegawa as the monarch of the Kyoto jail. It then sends a distress signal to gain the Phantom Thieves attention resulting in them being trapped, Leaving only Zenkichi and Futaba to free them and deal with Akane's shadow. While at the same time, Konoe is not aware that a child has been turned into a monarch since he does not know that EMMA is a sentient AI that is acting on its own will.
With Zenkichi's daughter manipulated and gaining his own persona, Zenkichi becomes more determined in revealing Konoe and Owada's crimes in order to arrest them both. At the same time, EMMA purposely left Konoe in the dark on what's going on with the Thieves and that they escape their imprisonment. Later on, the Thieves discover the Osaka Jail, which turns out Konoe is the ruler of. In the jail he is portrayed as a hero of humanity in a sci-fi like environment. While exploring, they discover a cage filled with three holograms of the former monarch rulers, which are Alice Hiiragi, Ango Natsume, and Mariko Hyodo. This led them to believe that Akira was controlling them and saw them as pawns for his goals.
During further exploration of the Jail, the Thieves find out that Konoe did have good and understandable intentions despite his horrible methods, and discover pieces of his past. It's also revealed that Konoe vents frustration on being friendly with Owada, showing that he detested Owada from the start and did want to get rid of him due to his corrupt nature but is just using him for his connections. They also discover Konoe's love for Zephyrman, an obscure character from the Phoenix Featherman series. After successfully obtaining the cores of the jail, they were able to reach the top of Madicce tower and find the desires of the Osaka Jail. But since they can't release it due to its barrier blocking them, they went to look into Konoe's past in order to break the barrier, like they did with the other monarchs.
They entered Konoe's childhood home in the Trauma Cell and witnessed his father's abuse towards him. Once his father notices the horrified party, he transforms into a Lock Keeper, spewing his hatred towards his son and his wife. Once the party defeats the Lock Keeper, they send the Calling Card by hijacking a Madicce zeppelin and dropping them all over Osaka city. While at first completely unfazed by it he realized that the plan to use the Kyoto Jail as a trap against the Phantom Thieves had failed. This fact unsettles him which causes the attention of his shadow. When his shadow is confronted by the phantom thieves, he starts to explain that he wanted to be a hero like them and thought by using EMMA to create the jails to rid the world of all thoughts of evil. Of course, the Phantom Thieves criticize him, mentioning that his methods are more harmful than good and that it puts people in harm's way. They also brought up that the Monarchs that he used are trapped in their own traumas, preventing them from being truly happy with themselves.
When Zenkichi criticizes Konoe's sense of justice, Konoe asks them if they would be able to save him from his father. He tells them that he had no one to rely on to save him from the abuse and felt that there are others that went through the same trauma as he did. Feeling that the Thieves have done nothing to help them even when they ask for it. He criticizes the party for only fighting evil that they come across, justifying his use of the Jails. Since the Thieves continue to reject his views, he challenges them to a fight. He puts on his Zephyrman suit and gets on the Zephyrus Mech to fight. He is later defeated and the mech explodes but he is not done with them yet. Konoe emerges from the flames and pulls out his lightsaber to fight them again for the second time, showing his sheer determination. Sadly he is defeated once again by thieves.
Akira learning his lesson and willing to atone for what he did
The party reveals that they understand Konoe and his pain but his methods would bring more harm. Konoe questions if he's the villain in the story and the party reveals that his sense of justice is flawed and not right but makes him understand their views on justice. Konoe admits his flaws and what he has done, finally seeing the errors of his ways. He tells the party that he will admit to his crimes and will shut down EMMA for good.
At the Osaka press conference, Konoe admits to all of his crimes and the lies he spread on the Phantom Thieves. Revealing his plans to use EMMA to control people's hearts. He tells everyone that he is going to step down as CEO and hand himself over to the police as punishment for his crimes. Konoe tells his employees that he is sorry for the troubles he caused them and is going to hand himself over to the police station. That changes when a group of them arrive at the building with Zenkichi. Zenkichi tells Konoe that he will never forgive him for what he has done to his daughter but offers him the chance to explain all the crimes that are connected to Owada, to save many lives in the process. This revelation shocks Konoe but he accepts.
In the game's epilogue, he gives the police valuable testimony, allowing them to arrest Owada for good. This act allowed him to give the justice that he desired so much.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Akira Konoe is set up the same way as Masayoshi Shido but both characters are different in many ways.
- Akira genuinely wants to help others despite being very misguided but Shido only helps himself and everything he says about helping Japan is not genuine.
- Shido created a conspiracy so he can become a dictator but Akira created a conspiracy so he can get rid of evil in the world through EMMA and his sense of justice.
- It's been noted that Akira is a very good boss and treats his employees very well but Shido mistreats everyone and his workers badly, not caring what happens to them and would willingly dispose of them.
- Shido lacks any redeeming qualities while Konoe does have redeeming qualities.
- Akira had an abusive father that sparked his views on justice while Shido is the abusive father that spark Akechi's view on justice.
- Akira's change of heart is very genuine to the point he willingly gave himself up to the police, but Shido's change of heart is not due to forcibly brainwashed by the thieves and still being controlled by Yaldabaoth.
- When the game came out, a meme was created that suggested Akira Konoe is similar to Tony Stark. Mainly because of their appearances and status as CEOs of a million-dollar company.
- Konoe is the only target of the Phantom Thieves to be completely unfazed by a calling card, partially because the calling card was written by Zenkichi instead of one of the more experienced Phantom Thieves. It was the EMMA app's failure to capture the Thieves that actually rattled Konoe.
- Akira shares his name with one used by the Protagonist, as Akira Kurusu, which is primarily used in the Manga Adaptation.
- In a way, Akira is a bit similar to Takuto Maruki from Persona 5 Royal. Both were inspired by the Phantom Thieves and wanted to do good in the world but took it in a more extreme length. They are very genuine in their sense of justice and had severe trauma from their past that affect them mentality.
- Despite this, there is one difference between the two, Akira is implied to inflicted suicide on his chief researcher while Maruki has never killed a person at all.
External Links[]
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Strega (Takaya Sakaki | Jin Shirato | Chidori Yoshino) | Kouetsu Kirijo | Shuji Ikutsuki | Nyx Avatar Persona 3 FES
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Teru Gojuin | Dark Yashiro | Yatsufusa Hatanaka
Persona Q Clockwork God Persona Q2 Kamoshidaman | Enlil
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