Goro Akechi

Appearance

Akechi has shaggy, neck length brown hair with bangs and reddish-brown eyes. He wears a tan peacoat with black buttons, striped black and white tie, black pants, black gloves and black loafers. His casual winter outfit consists of a white long sleeve shirt with flaps under a blue argyle sweater vest, beige pants and brown shoes. As Crow, Akechi wears a princely pure-white regalia with red accents and a red, long-nosed mask. His mask motif resembles a long-nosed Venetian mask. His image is a combination of a noble's attire, and a uniform worn by cavalry or guards of honor. As with his Robin Hood Persona, it's meant to give the feeling of putting on the air of a champion of justice, with nothing to do with being a Phantom Thief, robber or burglar of any sort, invoking the image of being at the front of a stage to contrast the protagonist's image of being more of a backstage actor.

Personality pt.1

In public and with all of his relations, Akechi appears to be well-mannered, friendly, humble and charismatic. His achievement of being a high-school detective, coupled with his handsome features, makes him highly popular among the general public and he is commented to be "The Second Coming of the Detective Prince." His intelligence and smooth-talk earned him enough trust from the police to conduct his own investigation despite his young age, working with Sae Niijima, who fully trusts him to assist her in her investigation. He presents himself as having a strong sense of justice, disapproving of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts for their methods. He is candid in expressing his disagreement, but he wants to hear about other people's views in an honest fashion. He quotes Hegel on this, citing that "advancement cannot occur without both thesis and antithesis." He finds an interest in the protagonist because he speaks his mind. Much of Akechi's talents have been naturally nurtured thanks to not only his own open-mindedness and effort but also the support from others he has accepted. This cheery disposition, however, is nothing short of a fraud that has been carefully crafted to grant him a public image and mask his real personality. Due to having been born an illegitimate child, he would be despised by others as he would be nothing more than a scandal for them, even ruining his mother's life and driving her to suicide. He would subsequently be placed into child institutions. Akechi grew up a lonely child and a "nobody" who yearned to be loved; this feeling persisted into his teenage years. The stigma of being an illegitimate child, while also heavily implied to be an impulsive mistake on Shido's part, has haunted Akechi and become the basis of his incredibly misanthropic worldview as well as his legitimate self-loathing. Regardless of how much Akechi tried to change, that hatred that bound him to his past would persist deeply.

personality pt.2

Akechi's desperation for acknowledgement leads him to study hard to become perfect and develop his outward Detective Prince image in hope to be accepted by people around him. Even while having developed an overwhelming fanbase, Akechi is still disliked among individuals for his affiliation, as he's become quite obviously a fraudulent hero of sorts: not only does the more honest Sojiro Sakura dislike him for his work with the police, but the Phantom Thieves of Hearts themselves find him a menace as his public views and remarks are nothing more than a hindrance to them. Even the public's support doesn't fill the hole in his heart, as he knows he's loved only if he upholds the pretense of being a charismatic idol detective rather than a bastard child; his fans are quick to turn on him anyway if he makes mistakes, such as when the Phantom Thieves triumphed over Kaneshiro and Medjed. As a result towards his overall childhood and situation with Shido, Akechi's sense of justice is hollow and empty, no matter the interpretation: in public, he presents a pacifistic view that condemns the Phantom Thieves' actions even as executioners, believing that they have no right to play with people's hearts no matter the cost; the party strongly disagrees with if not outright ignores his views, which only hinder their genuine attempts at bettering Tokyo. That being said, Akechi otherwise switches to enacting justice blindly, as behind the scenes he becomes a relentless killer that is driven by grudge down to an obsessive degree, this time finding no problem with erasing evil people via murder, viewing himself as no different from the Phantom Thieves, much to their objection. Fitting to the prison and discipline theme of Persona 5, his justice is tantamount to being the sole warden of a panopticon, where the fear of him assassinating anyone who speaks ill of Shido keeps the entire public in line.

personality pt.3

Despite being a generally pragmatic and competent individual, Akechi has an unintentional sloppy side that sometimes bleeds through in conversations, such as hearing of delicious pancakes from a conversation he walked in on where he shouldn't have been able to understand Morgana and inadvertantly taking the spicy takoyaki from the basket. The former in particular costed him his victory against the Phantom Thieves, especially when no other person in Shido's cabinet is smart or attentive enough to get rid of them. Near the final act of Persona 5, his obsession with enacting revenge on his father and his desire to be the hero of his own story overshadows his true feelings for the protagonist and the party. He becomes so desperate that he dismisses the concept of friends and true justice, claiming they are both meaningless and sickening, and even makes himself go psychotic which led to him losing control. This becomes substantial to his downfall, as in spite of his commended strength, his lack of bonds alongside his single-minded goal happens to be the reason why he is defeated. However, after learning how special he is to the protagonist and the party, and the truth of how Shido sees him from the cognitive version of himself, Akechi realizes how foolish he's been for letting his hatred blind him from seeing the truth, and willingly sacrifices himself. It is only after realizing Shido himself has manipulated him why Akechi has realized what the true meaning of justice is: specifically the matter of free will. This would not only cause Akechi to see the error in his original views, but would see just how terrible the things Shido has done to both him and Japan are; he would also understand the Phantom Thieves' views and just how much they differed from his, but at the same time would ascertain that due to his position, he would only drag them down even with his sudden transformation, entrusting the Phantom Thieves to finish the job and stop Shido.

Trivia

Unlike most party members, Akechi is always referred to by his surname, which would otherwise be shared by most antagonists in the series. Akechi's outfit when he uses Loki has a pattern of blue and black in contrast to his outfit when he uses Robin Hood, which has a theme of red and white. While Akechi is a Wild Card just like the protagonist, unlike him, he can only use two Personas. Akechi has the ability to change his Metaverse outfit; how he is the only one to do so is never elaborated upon. Within the Metaverse, Akechi's stance mirrors the protagonist's but lacks the natural sway that the protagonist has; instead, he stands completely still. Akechi is left-handed. In Persona 5 Royal, when meeting the protagonist for the first time, Akechi shakes hands with his left hand. Later, during a game of pool with the protagonist, Akechi uses his right hand. The protagonist notices this and even points it out, surprising Akechi. During their duel in Mementos, Akechi admits he was surprised that the protagonist noticed such a small detail. According to Akechi's Maniax profile, his ideal type of lover is someone who keeps a reasonable amount of distance. Also, if he won 700 million yen, he would travel and see the world after his entrance exams. Despite Akechi technically being responsible for murdering Futaba and Haru's parents, they never put the full blame on him. Their anger is instead directed towards Shido, as he was the one who made Akechi murder them, and Akechi was only following orders because he was groomed and manipulated as an assassin. Akechi is the only major boss in Persona 5 that is fought while securing the treasure route instead of after.