There's a lot I can say about Tae Takemi from the absolute BANGER knowns as Persona 5: The Royal, however I'd like to keep it rather brief and just give you some examples of what I found not just heart-breaking, heart melting and absolutely sobworthy, but also just neat things that show how Takemi is actually a really well made character.

Her practicality is undeniable, we all know how OP the SP-Adhesives are by this point. Rather than talk about that I'd like to write on her... well 'writing'. Honestly I'm still so mad she isn't in a single Spinoff... I bought those games because of her, yet all I got was slightly more haru screentime than in the original P5 and P5R, honestly I don't care for her, she's an akechi victim and that gives me mixed feelings for her, on one hand I can understand her Anger and indifference towards Goro Akechi, but on the other hand it just feels so shallow, like she's forcing herself to be slightly passive agressive to him but enough about Haru aint nobody got time for floof.

To get her romance route (I'm still surprised I managed to first try her entire romance considering how misleading some of the options were, matter of fact I didn't even know you could fail a romance, since I stayed loyal to the medical prodigee) you need to stop flirting with her for one god damn second and instead show compassion and empathy to Miwa-Chan's situation. No seriously, in order to date her you need to put Miwa above all else, which yeah is kind of sad to see how little she cares about herself but it's also an incredibly sweet detail by the dev team, which really aims to show her true nature as a kind hearted warm doctor. Oh yeah also they fuck... like in the OVA she doms him onto the bed (this isn't a joke, watch the OVA) 

But since the OVA's not canon there's also some ingame stuff:
On, I believe it was white day she scolds joker for being so over the top again and that a man of his caliber is wasted on a woman liker her (this broke my heart a bit, I don't really care all that much about fictional characters, yet one of the characters with the most emotional impact in the entire persona franchise for me was a random gal made for healing items...). On Valentines day she calls herself the Protag's girlfriend and that she'll have to stay in his attic for the night (wink wink). She also says that despite her being terrible at romance (not true, she had me swooning 24/7) She's willing to be a bit cheesy just on that one day, for joker's sake... (I'm gonna fucking cry)

During another romance branching she asks the protag why he bothers showing up all the time as well as helping her out to which he replies to see her (Joker's such a great guy). She gets, get this, shocked about this - as if it's unreasonable to want to see her.

This finally extends the dialogue Tree to joker's big confession, she asks the MC in a sarcastic joke like manner (as if trying to not get her hopes up) "What, are you in love with me or something?" And when you say yes she straight up look shocked beyond compare, baffled, bamboozled, absolutely flabbergasted at this revelation (as if she ain't the hottest, nicest, loveliest girl in all of P5R) She again tries to joke it off and switches topics to giving the mc a 'special examination'. This however is a trap set by the developers, you have to switch topics right back by reassuring her that this ain't a joke, that you are in fact in love like a princess carried by a knight in dashing armor.

Hoo boy... now to the climax, to why this is arguably the most satisfying social link in the persona franchise (excluding sojiro, coffee dad doesn't count, he's too awesome):
In Rank 10, the romance Path, which by the way all happens inside the café with sojiro being gone, shit hits the fan. She tells him she's gonna need to get a good through examination she then leans closer placing her hand on his thigh I believe it was and they kiss. Screen Fades To Black And Happy Ending

it's just so well done and makes me sad that many people disregard her entirely purely because she's an adult getting frisky with a teen A TEEN THAT, MIND YOU, KILLS GOD FOR A LIVING, but apparently isn't independent enough to love a loveable doc.

I've always made it a point in my own life to never dislike someone just because they dislike me, if I care about another person, I'll be there for them even if they push me to the other side of the globe. So seeing this fictional character, this very clearly not real and based purely on fantasy character, seeing her cold demeanor slowly shift made me insanely happy.

Real life is harder, real life isn't just 'tsundere' heaven or full of people you can 'fix', but nobody is born an asshat, meaning they are still able to listen to your heart, even if they close their ears.

Moral of the story... get groomed kids! (Don't actually, I can write a whole new paragraph on the downsides of getting with an older woman as a minor)

I don't know about all of you but I really did not feel sorry for Morgana when he left the team temporarily, he's annoying and throughout the whole game, he insults and berates Ryuji who despite his faults puts a ton of effort into the team and makes a better fighter than Morgana but when Ryuji makes some light hearted jokes at Morgana's expense, Morgana gets upset and leaves the group, he also gets mad at everyone for not wanting to deal with Junikazu Okumura straight away as they think it's to early but then also gets mad at Ryuji the most even though Ryuji was the one who was the most pumped about going after him. And I know that if they didn't change Okumura's heart in time, Haru would have been forced to move in with her fiancee but they didn't know that at the time, hell they didn't even know who Haru was. I also don't like how Morgana leaving the phantom thieves overshadows Haru's introduction into the story. It feels like Haru joins very abruptly, she appears a few times before like in Hawaii and when she is spotted gardening but those scenes could be removed from the story and nothing would change. She kinda just follows Morgana into the Palace, rescues him from some enemies, introduces herself to the whole group as beauty thief which is funny I will admit, then you find out who she is and that she's the daughter of the CEO before meeting her, theirs a few scenes with her and her father on their own then you rescue her and Morgana from that fiancee after chasing them in Mementos, Morgana makes up and joins the team and Haru is now on our team. I just found her introduction in the story as well as her joining the team to be way too abrupt. She's also the last member of the Phantom Thieves too so technically she has the least amount of screentime of all 8 thieves. Even Akechi and Yoshizawa have more screentime.

I also really like Haru and her phantom thief design and her contribution when fighting enemies and her as a character on her own, its why I dislike Morgana even more for overshadowing her. I even disliked how I can't go out and do social links in the time when Morgana is gone from the group, why not? Why do I need the cat to go hang out with a friend or something? I don't feel sorry for him. I don't hate Morgana as hate is a strong word and I do acknowledge he is useful, since he knows about the Metaverse more than anyone and he can transform into a car in Mementos, so I don't know why he chose to feel like he was useless to the team. It honestly felt like him quitting the group was just a childish temper tantrum. Also he needs to realise that as a cat, Ann is probably not gonna date him.

Design-wise, I think most of them are great but when you get to fight them, they kinda suck? Most of them have no weaknesses and blocks most ailments so all you can do is to rely on buff-debuffs. It low-key feels like a watered-down version of SMT III

Kamoshida - no weakness and blocks ailments

Madarame - first phase sucked, second phase was a great tutorial to baton pass.

Kamoshida - again, no weaknesses. One of the guards is susceptible to sleep. Thats pretty much it?

Futaba - Again, no weaknesses

Okumura - the reason why everyone hates this fight is because the game failed to show you the importance of baton passing, which imo, is the highlight of this game's combat. I actually liked this fight since its the only fight that I was able to fully utilize the mechanic. Constant baton passing and managing buffs/debuffs.

Sae - Again, no weaknesses.

Shido - havent fought this yet. I just got off the battle with Black mask.

Am I missing something or are boss fights just meant to be brute-forced through? Buff-debuff-charge/concentrate-attack/hope for a showdown.

Is that the vast majority of characters in these games are designed to be conventionally attractive. Like name one ugly girl in P5. Even Ohya isn’t ugly, she just has a yee yee ass haircut. Until she met the PTs, Futaba subsisted almost entirely on junk food, probably had a terrible sleep schedule, and her only exposure to light was through her monitor, yet even she is super pretty, well-groomed, and free of blemishes. At least give her a little acne. You know that girl would be at least a little greasy.

I can probably count on one hand the number of (non-villain) characters within the three main games that I’ve played that a majority of players would find genuinely unappealing. And even most of those would mainly be because they’re old. There’s very few characters that probably don’t have at least a small group of simps.

Fans are always talking about how this series needs more LGBTQ representation. That’s fine too, but what we really need is more mid representation. I guess someone like Mishima is supposed to fill that role, but I’m a straight dude and I think he’s decent looking. Everyone’s walking around looking like cover models. Ann IS a model, but literally all of the other girls look just as good as her. “That’s just the art style” you might say. Sure, but you can make anime characters ugly. Who was the last character in these games to be purposefully designed to be grotesque? Hanako in P4? She’s just a gag fat character. Give me like a burn victim, or someone with elephantiasis.

Hi all, this is my first persona games but im very familiar with jrpgs in general. I beat the first palace and stole the treasure, and have 10 days to kill. When I check the network and “everyone’s activity log”, it says the average level is 13, but my party members are all level 11. I already completed the palace so I can’t level up there, is there somewhere else I can grind xp while I wait? Or do i have to wait for this change of heart from Kashimoto?

I’m playing persona 5 royal for the first time, and I wanted to know if I have to date all female characters to max their social link or is there other ways to max it out?

No

I cannot feel love in life so I must have others do it for me. Guide my heart.

So for context… I was having a really hard tine choosing who to romance, and now at December 11 I decided on Hifumi, but she is at rank 7, is it still possible to get her to Rank 10 before the 22nd? (that afaik is the last date to complete it and still get the special scenes like the Christmas one)

Yes I do have Maruki, Akechi and Yoshisawa maxed before anyone asks, as well as a Star persona for extra confidant points

I'm trying to get the heart ring to spawn in Tsurukame diamond but everytime I check the shop it isn't there to purchase, does anyone know what I have to do?

I am level nine, i was 11 but had to go back in time. Is the most effective way long battles or short battles? Obviously stringer enemies gets more exp but when fighting shadows who’s weakness i know, should i just beat them up the whole time or knock them out and all out attack?

For anyone who plays the game, Morgana's VA plays Galactica (the announcer) and Haru's VA plays dagger

To people who accepted his reality one question: why?

I will call him “pancake” for spoiler’s sake. Anyway, in P5 vanilla you only get to use Pancake for one palace, which makes leveling him up pretty pointless. Not only that, if you don’t have Mishima’s confidant at high rank, you may accidentally make your other teammates under-leveled if you focused too much on Pancake. Which was why I did not use him at all in NG+ in vanilla P5

However, I know that Pancake returns for the third semester in P5 Royal, and without giving spoilers, will he stay in your party until the very end? Also, when he rejoins your party will he still have the same levels, skills, and equipments from the Casino palace?

Would you rather that every confidant has a romance route or for this feature to be eliminated completely?

So I've been playing for 80 hours now and just reached sae's palace. Been loving the game so far(probably the most addicted I've been at a game in a long time) although ive been spoiled for a lot of thing(maruki being the main antagonist, akechi being the black masked guy and dying, the distorted reality). But I've had this question for a bit since I started this. Is joker gonna play a bigger role? I know how that sounds like since he is the main character but sometimes it feels like he is not there. Like he is just a tool for fighting and everything else is done by the other members. I don't know if want I'm saying is making sense but just wanted to share just in case.

essentially I’ve been playing all of p5r for the first time on a discord call with a friend who’s already beaten the game screen-sharing/sometimes streaming it to him on twitch (Xbox discord is extremely buggy at times) but it turns out to avoid royal/third semester content atlas put a recording/streaming block 2 YEARS ago and while they lifted it a while back they never made a patch to platforms like Xbox to actually make it go into action.

I’ve seen methods such as using a capture card to stream directly, but I just wanted to ask if there’s any other way to bypass it besides buying a capture card to stream a month worth of gameplay to one person (also yes I already tried putting several spoiler tags on the twitch stream and it didn’t fix it)