Goro Akechi

Goro Akechi is a playable character from Persona 5. He is a public celebrity, touted by his fans and the media as the second coming of the detective prince (after the first appeared in Persona 4), and is investigating the mysterious Phantom Thieves of Hearts case sensationalizing Japan.
During the course of the story, Akechi would condemn the Phantom Thieves' actions. He temporarily cooperates with them for professional reasons, using the codename Crow. He also acts as the protagonist's rival. His past having produced inherent feelings of hatred that would become a stigma for him, Akechi tries to perfect himself to be acceptable to others.
In Persona 5 Royal, he acts as the deuteragonist of the new themes and events of the story. He would let go of his desire to be acknowledged for the sake of himself, no matter who he is.
==Appearances==
*Persona 5 / Royal: Playable Character; Justice Confidant
**Persona 5 (Manga): Major Character
**Persona 5 Dengeki Comic Anthology: Minor Character
**Persona 5: Mementos Mission: Major Character
**Persona 5 The Animation The Day Breakers: Cameo
**Persona 5 The Animation: Major Character
***Persona 5 the Animation: Proof of Justice: Major Character
***Persona O.A.
**Persona 5 The Stage
*Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight: Playable Character (DLC)
*Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight: Playable Character (DLC)
*Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth: Playable Character
**Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth Roundabout Special
*Persona 5 Tactica: Playable Character (DLC)
*Persona 5: The Phantom X: Side/Playable Character
==Design==
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.
Once he reveals his true intentions, Akechi swaps his princely garb for a body-covering, black and dark blue striped outfit. In this form, he has several black studded belts strapped around his legs and arms, a short black cape and clawed gauntlets. He also wears a dark enclosed knight helmet, with a black mask tinted red, resembling a sharp beak, which breaks after his defeat. Much like with Loki's design, it alludes to a lack of agency, and is meant to give a chaotic feeling and invoke the question "what's the real you?"
During the third semester in Royal, Akechi seems to have replaced his broken mask with a blue-black version. On days off, he wears a green vest and white collar shirt, both under a brown coat with black buttons, and blue pants while retaining his gloves and loafers. On school days, Akechi wears a tan coat with a red and gray plaid scarf tucked underneath, while keeping his black gloves, pants and shoes from his detective uniform.
==Personality==
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 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.
Though he is a perfectionist and his talents are efficient and calculative, he has an unintentional sloppy side that sometimes bleeds through in conversations. The most notable running gag is his conversation with the Phantom Thieves when they first met in public, awkwardly bringing up "delicious pancakes" when trying to lead their exchange. Otherwise, he would later catch himself eating a spicy takoyaki unbeknownst to its true though purely of his own volition.
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 placement 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.
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.
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.
The first and the only person that Akechi has ever formed a bond with close to friendship is the protagonist who he has complicated feelings for, albeit innately positive. After meeting the protagonist, for the first time, Akechi is able to experience a simple, normal life with a friend. Unlike most people, the protagonist is honest with him when speaking his mind and actively pursues him. Spending time with the protagonist gives a profound effect on Akechi. He admires yet envies the protagonist, who does not let anything stop him from carving his own path, and thus considers him his rival. He holds the protagonist in high regard to the point that he believes that the Phantom Thieves are nothing without the protagonist's leadership. Persona 5 Maniax as well as Akechi himself in Persona 5 state that despite being overwhelmed with jealousy and contempt for the protagonist, who has everything he doesn't, Akechi says he would have wanted to meet the protagonist earlier, and doesn't deny what Morgana says about him taking a liking to the protagonist. In an interview in Persona 5 The Royal Official Complete Guide, director Kazuhisa Wada comments that Akechi doesn't care much for other people except the protagonist.
As the result of their relationship, Akechi is especially attentive to the protagonist. In Persona 5 Royal, on Christmas Eve, Akechi willingly turns himself in to testify against Shido in the protagonist's stead, claiming he does so to repay his debt with him. He is alarmed and disappointed should he ever accept Takuto Maruki's reality, as he believes that it betrays his ideals and their relationship with each other. At the same time, he is relieved each time the protagonist turns Maruki's offer down, knowing that he is resolved to return to their normal reality, and accepting Maruki's offer would be a betrayal of Akechi's wishes. This is also expressed in his navigation lines, whereas he is close to panicking whenever the protagonist is about to or got knocked down, but polite when Sumire was knocked down and scold her severely or even dismissive when she missed her attack.
In the third semester of Persona 5 Royal, Akechi no longer cares what others may think of him after rejoining, completely abandoning his detective prince persona. Now perfectly comfortable with his true self, he doesn't mince his words regardless how other people would be affected by it. He won't bother making small talk, directing the conversation straight to the point. While Akechi seems to no longer hold any contempt for the Phantom Thieves, he is no kinder than before with them since they already know his true nature. The game doesn't show Akechi showing his true personality to other people except the Phantom Thieves, but he makes no attempt to hide it either, which surprised Sumire during their first exploration of Maruki's Palace. He also shows a morbid sense of humor, dryly suggesting they kill Maruki when handing him the calling card. He usually speaks in a calm and polite fashion, but when he drops his guise and engages in combat as the Black Mask, his dialogue becomes wildly aggressive and profane. However, he displays this behavior only towards enemies, for example, Shadows. This side of him is elaborated upon further during battle, as he refers to small Shadows as "scum" and delights in killing them.
When it comes to his enemies, he is still merciless, seeing no problem in killing if he feels it is necessary. During a conversation in the Thieves Den, Akechi outright states that he would have killed Madarame or Kamoshida if he were to be abused by them like Yusuke or Ann were; in turn, they responded that letting them suffer their guilt for an eternity would be a better punishment than outright killing them. Akechi does show a certain restraint to this side of him, depending on who his opponents are, as shown in Maruki's Palace when he chooses to back out and leave the protagonist to fight Sumire alone: Akechi says he doesn't want to accidentally kill her, but in the Japanese version, he states he doesn't want to accidentally hurt her. He would attempt to kill Maruki only as a last resort when he'd see no other choice.
Usually Akechi will use "boku" to refer to himself and "kimi" to refer to other people, which is (usually) considered polite. However, when he's the Black Mask, Akechi will always use "ore" to refer to himself (which is also used by Ryuji) and refer to others as "kisama" or "omae" (the latter of which is used by both Ryuji and Morgana.) All of the three pronouns he uses as the Black Mask are considered extremely impolite, and are also used by Shido when he drops his facade to deal with people personally.
Having been manipulated and controlled by Shido before, Akechi values free will above all else. For this reason, he is disgusted by Maruki's salvation plan that requires his memories to be distorted and changed, which Akechi sees as no different than when he was controlled by his father. He is determined to live his life following the path that he chooses for himself, without anyone dictating him, even if it means he will die doing so.
His overall worldview, even while omitting his characterization in Royal, is comparable to that of a modern-day Robin Hood: although both fights the comfortable and arrogant to support the oppressed, Akechi specifically focuses on authority, or rather the morality that it has bloated, as formed by his upbringing of his unjust reputation and the manipulation he's experienced by Shido himself under the pretense of blissful acknowledgement, as well as Shido's own arrogance that's been built in a similar fashion.
Despite his reputation as a detective being a fabrication, Akechi has genuinely sharp, intuitive and innovative deduction and analysis skills, as seen during Niijima's Palace and Maruki's Palace, as well as during Persona Q2; his quick and in-depth thinking allows him to be an effective asset when an ally. He is also extremely cunning, secretly planning a means to counter Shadow Sae's last minute cheating in her Palace without the knowledge of his teammates beforehand. This proves that even without having to fabricate cases, he actually does have what it takes to become a true detective. However, his usage of the Wild Card happens to be very poor, as he relies on only two Personas based on parts of his personalities and doesn't have special bonds with anyone besides the protagonist.
The official Persona 5 Artbook states that Akechi lives alone in a city apartment. His main skill is reasoning, and he has a habit of getting lost in thought during conversations. His hobbies include cycling (specifically with a hybrid bicycle for easy turning in Tokyo), bouldering, and playing fashionable games like darts. His guidebook profile also states that Akechi always makes sure to try out the latest popular dishes in order to use food as a conversation piece. Waiting in long lines for this does not bother him. He uses his cycling hobby to ride around town, gathering stories to utilize in conversation with adults. Since he spends a lot of time with adults, he has a reputation among Tokyo's famous hidden stores and high class restaurants, although in truth he has little interest in the food's flavor.
==Profile==
===Persona 5===
Akechi is the illegitimate child of Masayoshi Shido, the same man responsible for the protagonist's probation period. His mother was a sex worker who was shamed for having a child out of wedlock and committed suicide. According to him, before her suicide, she raised him alone, and whenever she brought men from the red light district into their home, she would tell him to go to the bath house. Akechi desired to make Shido apologize for his crime of making her illegally conceive a child, but was powerless to do anything because Shido was already a high-ranking official by then. Orphaned after his mother's death, he was passed between a succession of relatives who took no interest in him.
Two years before Persona 5, Akechi acquired the power of the Wild Card and gained access to the Metaverse, although he is never shown in, and is likely not permitted in the Velvet Room. He then offered his newfound abilities to Shido, who employed him as an assassin to achieve his goal of becoming Prime Minister. However, in truth, this was just a plan by Akechi to catch Shido off guard so he could expose his acts to the public before killing him when he took premiership.
Shido proceeded to teach Akechi about inducing mental shutdowns by abusing Mementos. One of the first people he killed was Wakaba Isshiki. After Akechi killed her, Shido seized her research and had men in black read a false suicide note to her daughter Futaba out loud, keeping her in the dark by convincing her she's responsible and psychologically harming her.
During their collaboration, Akechi used Loki to fabricate scandals of Shido's opponents to discredit them, then proceeded to "solve" the case himself. This, along with his already standing charisma, earned him the title of "The Second Coming of the Detective Prince," along with celebrity status. If any of Shido's enemies proved particularly troublesome, Akechi would assassinate them personally by inducing a mental shutdown. Akechi's powers and pragmatic tendencies quickly made him a valuable tool for Shido to dispose of his opposition. Aside from Shido himself, Akechi also killed people that were commissioned by Shido's allies (sometimes other political players who aren't in Shido's party) to silence their foes or anyone they don't like, often in exchange for granting Shido funds or connections. With a powerful tool to instill fear and silence all opposition in his hands, Shido became nigh-impossible to stop by normal jurisdictional means courtesy of the fear of experiencing a mental shutdown or a psychotic breakdown. 
Around a day after the protagonist is pulled into the rehabilitation game, Akechi causes a massive subway accident for the sole reason of framing the traffic department for incompetency.
Akechi is first brought up to the Phantom Thieves of Hearts by Shadow Madarame and Shadow Kaneshiro after his fall, although they only mention him as a nameless figure with a black mask.
====Third Heist: Junya Kaneshiro====
Akechi first meets the group during a Shujin Academy school trip to a TV station in Akasaka Mitsuke, where he is scheduled to appear as a guest in "Good Morning Japan." He passes by and overhears Morgana talking with the protagonist, Ryuji Sakamoto, and Ann Takamaki backstage about the shape of the TV dome resembling pancakes, attracting his attention, and commenting on it.
During the show, he expresses a distaste for the Phantom Thieves, whom he accuses of taking the law into their own hands. Although he was covertly trying to influence public opinion against the group, Akechi quickly takes an interest in the protagonist for openly opposing his argument, approaching him after the show and telling him that he enjoyed their conversation, and hopes to speak again sometime.
====Fourth Heist: Futaba Sakura====
After the phantom thieves' success with Kaneshiro's case, Akechi continues to tactfully build negative reception, suggesting the possibility they're fabricating confessions. Not only that, but he exploits Medjed's threat against them, as although he looks down on their actions as well, he uses Medjed's status to paint the Phantom Thieves in a negative light, as well as their threat to the small group, demanding that the thieves reveal their identities should they not want Medjed to damage Japan's economy, putting down the responsibility on them.
Additionally, Akechi would talk with the protagonist's group, which would suspect if Akechi's figured them out.
====Fifth Heist: Kunikazu Okumura====
Goro Akechi would visit Leblanc at Sae Niijima's recommendation, and would meet the protagonist there. He would confide to the protagonist about his past as an orphan, the fate of his deceased mother, and his father's actions against her, without telling any names. He would decide he'd be a regular at the cafe in his ordinary life.
Once the Phantom Thieves' popularity reaches its peak, the public stops taking what Akechi says seriously. His popularity would plummet so low he would be ranked as a target request on the Phan-site, and he wouldn't have the freedom to speak ill of the thieves should he not want them to backfire on him. However, the Conspiracy tricks the Thieves into making their next target Kunikazu Okumura, who is also one of Shido's enemies and an obstacle to his path. After their target's defeat, Akechi takes the chance to assassinate his Shadow Self before his Palace collapses, subsequently causing the real Okumura to suffer a mental shutdown and die an unspecified amount of time later. This leads to the public believing the Phantom Thieves to be behind his death. On the other hand, Akechi's support skyrockets due to his staunch disapproval of their methods, and Shido's conspiracy takes advantage of this to frame the Phantom Thieves for a crime that they did not commit.
====Sixth Heist: Sae Niijima====
Later, as Shujin Academy is voting for a guest celebrity to speak at their cultural festival, Akechi is chosen by a landslide majority, and he accepts Makoto Niijima's invitation. During his speech, he boasts of knowing the Phantom Thieves' identities on stage, knowing full well they were listening, and uses a fake call as an excuse to talk to them personally. Backstage, he blackmails the Thieves into a deal using photographic evidence of them leaving Okumura's Palace.
Akechi claims he entered the Metaverse a month before, and awakened to his Persona when he was attacked by the black masked man who killed Okumura. Akechi says that his overwhelming need to find the truth and share it with the world was what caused him to awaken to his Persona, Robin Hood. Akechi requests that he accompany the Thieves on their heist in Sae's Palace in order to catch the real culprit and clear their name. In exchange, he'll destroy the photo evidence. However, another caveat is that the Phantom Thieves must disband after this last heist. With no other choice, the group agrees.
In reality, Akechi was planning to have them arrested after they changed Sae's heart so he could murder the protagonist under Shido's orders. However, the Phantom Thieves knew this from the beginning, due to him appearing to hear Morgana talk about the shape of the TV Station Dome despite his cover story dictating that he had never been in the Metaverse prior to early October, allowing them to deduce that he is a mole (since this implies that he spied on the Phantom Thieves all the way back when they were dealing with Madarame) and create a plan to prevent him from killing their leader. The Thieves planned on not stealing Sae's Treasure and instead take an empty briefcase, allowing her Palace to remain, while Futaba planted a bug onto the protagonist's phone to transfer Akechi to a part of Niijima's Palace that Sae has little control of. As Niijima's Palace contained a Cognitive Akechi, Makoto would then hide this fake out of the real Akechi's sight. The protagonist would then leave the Palace himself as a decoy, only to be arrested, and then convince Sae to show the protagonist's phone to Akechi so Futaba could remotely activate the Metaverse Navigator on the protagonist's side, preventing him from assassinating the protagonist as well as keeping the other Phantom Thieves and Confidants alongside the protagonist himself alive.
When Shadow Sae impeded the party's progress by increasing the number of coins required to enter the Manager's Floor of the casino to the seemingly insurmountable number of one million, Akechi reveals that he had been secretly used a loan card that Futaba told him to get rid of to borrow as many coins from the casino as possible, performing the calculations right in front of everybody, which add up to over one million coins, allowing the party access to the Treasure. After Shadow Sae's defeat and the Treasure found, their victory is cut short with a police invasion outside Sae's Palace, heavily implied to be drawn in by Akechi via passive use of the Metaverse Navigator. The protagonist decides to act as a decoy so the rest of the Phantom Thieves can escape, and Akechi follows the others while the protagonist catches the police's attention and is ultimately caught.
Back in the present, Sae concludes the interrogation by requesting that he reveal the identities of all his comrades and allies, promising to help lighten his sentence if he cooperates with her. If he refuses, the protagonist's drugs will begin to wear off, and will remember that the group was aware of Akechi's true motives all along, and had been prepared. He then recalls the true extent of the plan he crafted with the rest of the Phantom Thieves, and performs the crucial last step of giving Sae his cell phone, requesting that she show it to Akechi if she happens to meet him.
With the protagonist captured, Akechi heads to the interrogation room, planning to assassinate him. On his way there, whilst crossing paths, Sae shows Akechi the protagonist's cellphone. After Sae leaves, Akechi asks the guard outside the room to join him, before killing him with his own gun. He then gloats for a moment before shooting the protagonist in the head, staging the scene as a suicide before leaving. When he reports to Shido of his success in assassinating the protagonist, he considers killing the remaining Phantom Thieves. Akechi tells him to wait until after the election to avoid rousing suspicion, and assures Shido that they won't seek revenge without their leader.
In reality, when Sae showed Akechi the phone, he was transported into Sae's Palace, and the protagonist and guard he killed were mere cognitive replicas, which were present there because Sae had just seen them in reality. The protagonist also deliberately let himself get caught and interrogated so that his cognitive self would appear in the interrogation room, although he was only unable to recollect that he had a plan in the first place because he was drugged. Sae is shown evidence of Shido and Akechi being the culprits and rescues the protagonist, but to the rest of the world, the protagonist committed suicide while in custody. The conspiracy, overconfident, immediately files a false death certificate without checking for a corpse.
Alternatively, the protagonist can reveal all of the Phantom Thieves' identities to Sae. If so, Sae leaves and crosses paths with Akechi, not knowing he came to assassinate the protagonist. Due to Sae not showing him the cellphone, Akechi murders the real guard and protagonist as planned, and the residents of the Velvet Room lament his failure and sentence him to be imprisoned inside his cell for the rest of his life.
====Seventh Heist: Masayoshi Shido====
Akechi makes a public appearance where he addresses the protagonist's unanimously-acknowledged suicide on a talk show and intends to capture the remaining Phantom Thieves, even if they go after him, with full support from the public. However, in thought, he laments how the public does not know he was an undesired child, revealing he devoted himself to becoming an honor student, made his name as an ace detective and got rid of anyone who opposed him, courtesy of the MetaNav and his Persona.
At that moment, an audience member's phone rings, causing Akechi to recall how Sae showed him the protagonist's phone before he carried out the murder. Later, Shido abruptly demands that Akechi dispose of those involved with the conspiracy or at least those Akechi deems suspicious. When expressing doubts due to the lack of necessity, Shido threatens him and reminds Akechi if he knows what it means to disobey him. At this point, due to Shido's strange paranoia, which could potentially be explained as someone tampering with his Palace, Akechi realizes that there is a high chance the protagonist is still alive and leading the Phantom Thieves in an assault on Shido's Palace.
After the Phantom Thieves secure the letters of invitation required to enter Shido's Treasure Room, Akechi confronts the Phantom Thieves in the engine room of the great ship that is Shido's Palace. When accused of cooperating with Shido and having malicious intents, Akechi scoffs all of this and reveals his plan to expose to Shido his status as his illegitimate son after having been acknowledged, ruining his life. Furious that the Thieves are in the way of his plans, Akechi then battles the group in his Prince outfit with Robin Hood as his Persona and summons two Shadows to kill them, demonstrating his powers by driving them berserk with a mysterious other Persona.
After his first defeat, the Phantom Thieves try to discourage him from continuing his revenge and that he can always start over and work together; even Morgana tries to get him to listen to his true feelings. Akechi's hatred however runs deep, all of which he directs towards the protagonist. He uses his own berserk ability on himself in a last ditch effort to defeat the Phantom Thieves, officially revealing Loki and using all of his power to attack them. The Phantom Thieves manage to defeat him after a vicious struggle.
The severely overwhelmed and heartbroken Akechi admitted defeat and lamented about never being able to become someone special to anyone, and that he also supported Shido because otherwise his fame and trust would vanish once he were exposed. However, to his surprise and confusion, the group thinks the opposite of him: they not only see him as a talented man, admitting they've only defeated him because they worked together, but also acknowledge his fatal errors in life and working for his own personal benefit: ultimately, they offer him to join them if he so wishes. Even Haru and Futaba, while they don't express forgiveness for his murder of both of their significant parental figures, they do express sympathy with his position, both of whom having dealt with similar hardships as him in their lives.
Before Akechi can respond one way or the other, Shido's cognition of Akechi appeared, who in comparison explained that Shido had intended to kill him after winning the election due to being the only remaining threat to him. Initially, he considered this cognition as merely a tool for Shido to protect himself in the possibility that he decides to tear through his Palace. The cognition blankly admits it is true, but mocks Akechi, declaring him as having been a puppet for Shido from the very beginning, and would plan to kill him as retribution for the murders Shido made him commit; much to the Phantom Thieves' shock and anger.
The cognition would then offer Akechi a chance to redeem himself if he shoots the Phantom Thieves. Akechi, having realized the Phantom Thieves are his true allies, deceives the cognition, instead using it as a chance to shoot it and then the controls for the bulkhead, sealing him off from the rest of the group. Knowing that they would die if they tried to save him, he puts his trust in the group to stop Shido for him. As Akechi faces off against his equally wounded cognitive self, two gunshots sound, and Futaba is unable to detect any living signatures beyond the wall afterward.
After securing the infiltration route, the Phantom Thieves all express their understanding and sorrow for Akechi. Haru and Ann point out that he was a victim of Shido that couldn't be saved and Yusuke believes he himself would have become the same had he not met the party. Ryuji personally admits he cannot forgive Akechi, but openly states he can't forgive Shido even less for warping his mind. Makoto agreed that what Shido did was truly reprehensible, and Morgana ultimately summarizes him as not having been so bad deep down; telling the protagonist they have to take Shido down, no matter what.
When the party confronts Shadow Shido, he confirms his plan to kill Akechi, as his birth is a taint on his political power; he could not keep him alive, since he had intimate knowledge of his past. Shadow Shido gloats about how he used praise to manipulate Akechi, even brazenly declaring that it was thanks to him that Akechi could use his powers properly to begin with. The Phantom Thieves condemn Shido for corrupting Akechi only to discard him in the end, and for grooming a teenager into a murderer in exchange for acceptance and validation, arguing that he never would have been able to make it to where he was without Akechi's help.
Failing to complete any of the first six Palaces before their deadlines would revert time forward to the interrogation day with Sae; believing the overdose of drugs has affected the protagonist's memories makes Sae leave. Akechi then kills the protagonist as a mysterious figure, criticizing his righteousness as trivial. Failure to complete Shido's Palace before the Election Day leads to Akechi discovering that the protagonist is alive, and he arrests him for murdering a guard and deceiving the police after arriving at Leblanc. This is regardless of whether he was fought previously or not, and hence his disappearance.
After Shido's defeat, Akechi will never be heard from again for the rest of the game.
====Final Heist: Mementos====
Lavenza revealed that Yaldabaoth gave Akechi access to the Metaverse to see whether or not Akechi's desire to destroy the world was stronger than the protagonist's desire for rebellion and societal reform. Akechi's supposed goal after discrediting Shido is the destruction and recreation of society, as opposed to the protagonist reforming society by removing its corruption. However, Yaldabaoth would blatantly rig the outcome in an attempt to prove that humanity indeed wants his "salvation" by controlling the people of Tokyo and stagnating their thoughts regardless of who won.
===Persona 5 Royal===
An extra event in Persona 5 Royal has Akechi bumping into the protagonist and Kasumi Yoshizawa near the Shibuya station, where Kasumi reveals that her father hosted the talk show he was on earlier. Akechi responds that he had met the host personally, but is surprised that Kasumi is his daughter. The three then have a chat in a café, discussing the Phantom Thieves. Kasumi excuses herself shortly thereafter, not wanting to worry her father, and the group disbands.
During an unspecified period within the game in his celebrity career, Akechi was also interviewed by Shinichi Yoshizawa's talk show "Good Morning Japan" for one week in a row, allowing him to know Shinichi's daughters, Kasumi Yoshizawa and her younger sister, Sumire Yoshizawa personally.
In Royal, Akechi's Confidant is also optional instead of automatic, although all original events that originally progressed the Confidant in Persona 5 will still occur. Completing his Confidant will include visits to Penguin Sniper and Jazz Jin, and later ranks will allow the protagonist to randomly uncover enemy weaknesses and eventually randomly uncover all of an enemy's weaknesses. The deadline for the optional Confidant events is the 18th of November, where the last two events in the confidant will be automatic. After the 18th, the protagonist cannot interact with Akechi afterwards until the Third Semester.
In the protagonist's Rank 8 event with Akechi's Confidant, unlocked after he joins your party, Akechi will ask the protagonist to meet with him alone in Mementos. Morgana is a bit confused by the request, but he allows them to do so. In Mementos, Akechi finds a quiet location and then pulls a silenced pistol (similar to the one he used on Shadow Okumura and later the protagonist), saying that he wanted to follow up on his agreement that he will truly duel the protagonist. This will trigger a short battle where the protagonist is able to fight Akechi solo; winning this fight or surviving a number of turns is necessary in order to advance the Confidant. After the battle, he will then profess that he hates the protagonist. The localization has him go into detail about how the protagonist is able to expertly recover from the situation he was unwillingly thrust into, something Akechi himself was never able to do. In the Japanese release, his comparisons between himself and the protagonist are more highlighted, which are the cause of Akechi stating he "hated" him. He goes into detail of the protagonist's traits that he admires and puts himself down by comparison, making it sound like Akechi wishes he could have become such a well-adjusted person. He eventually throws his glove at the protagonist as a challenge for a rematch at a later date.
In Shido's Palace, if the protagonist reached Rank 8 in his confidant, then before the second half of his boss battle, Akechi will assume that the protagonist was also left unsatisfied with how their previous battle ended and declares that they will now finally attack until the bitter end. If the protagonist previously accepted his challenge to a rematch, then following the battle, when Akechi traps himself with Shido's cognitive version of himself, the protagonist will remind him of their promise, which surprises him.
====Taking Back Reality====
If the protagonist maxed the Councillor Arcana Confidant, Akechi reveals himself to be alive on Christmas Eve after Yaldabaoth's defeat, offering himself to take the protagonist's place for Sae to testify about his and Shido's crimes. He turns himself in to the police and confesses to the murders he committed on Shido's behalf.
Akechi was released on January 1st for no apparent reason, and sensed the world had been altered. Seeing an alive and well Wakaba Isshiki, and a human Morgana in Leblanc confirmed his suspicions. He asks the protagonist, who is the only other person aware of the irregularity, to help him investigate. After receiving a call from Kasumi, they go to Odaiba where an unknown Palace appears. The trio gather in the unknown Palace, but notice that the Metaverse Navigator has returned with a different icon, this time in white and black.
Entering the Palace, Akechi proceeds to take on his Black Mask form, as he has no reason to lie about his true self anymore. Upon rejoining, he has Loki instead of Robin Hood, and consequently loses all Bless Skills in his arsenal. He also acts as the navigator during the trio's investigation. While infiltrating the Palace, Akechi begins to suspect that Kasumi is the Palace Ruler once she identifies her deceased sister as Sumire after seeing footage of her past and how the protagonist refers to her as Kasumi.
This is proven false once Takuto Maruki reveals himself as the real Ruler and the one who created the 'ideal' reality that they currently live in using his amplified actualization powers. When Akechi and the protagonist reject Maruki's reality, the former counselor gives them a week for the protagonist to experience his reality for himself before returning for another confrontation. Akechi, on the other hand, gathers information about Maruki. He also calls Sumire's parents and learns that Maruki already made them believe she's at a training camp. In addition, he reveals to the protagonist that, in Maruki's reality, the two of them haven't committed crimes, despite the Phantom Thieves causing a stir in society for both realities. However, he stated that Shido alone was arrested for attempting to overthrow the government.
After a week passes, the protagonist and Akechi return to confront Maruki and reject his reality again. Kasumi, revealed to be her younger twin Sumire whose memory was altered by Maruki prior to the story, refuses to return. If the protagonist denies Maruki's offer, Akechi will be pleased, saying to Maruki that negotiations are now over. Choosing to accept Maruki's offer leads to an early bad ending, much to Akechi's shock.
Should the protagonist decide to accept Maruki's offer anyway, he will be happily hanging out with the other (former) members of the Thieves in Leblanc on the 3rd of February. Due to the fact that both Okumura and Wakaba are still alive, along with Akechi holding no malice towards any of the Phantom Thieves, as well as Shido being safely incarcerated, it can be assumed that in this ideal reality, Akechi never worked for Shido to begin with, allowing him to successfully turn his life around and form genuine bonds with friends who support him. During the 15th of March, he offers to take a group photo for the protagonist and his friends, only for Maruki to take the picture instead, allowing Akechi to be in the photo himself. He can be last seen in the credits playing chess with the protagonist, and like him, in the final end card, he gives the camera a knowing look as the rest of the former thieves hang out in Leblanc.
If the protagonist rejects Maruki's offer, Sumire, completely in denial of returning to who she once was, engages the two in battle, but Akechi excuses himself, knowing the protagonist wants her alive and he'd only end up killing her. After the fight, Maruki restrains Kasumi, which drives her Persona Cendrillon berserk, much to Akechi's disgust and anger as he rejoins the fight. They are close to defeat until the rest of the Phantom Thieves arrive. After defeating Cendrillon and leaving the Palace, Akechi offers his help to the rest of the party as they share the same goal, which they accept.
On the evening of February 2, if Akechi's promise was remembered, he also arrives at Leblanc when Maruki visits, although in hiding until Maruki calls him out. Maruki then tells the protagonist that Akechi's existence is a product of the new reality, though it may not be entirely because of the protagonist's own ideal reality. While the protagonist's true desire is heavily implied to simply be remaining in Tokyo with the friends and allies he made during his year-long probation (as shown during the instance where he does choose to stay in Maruki's reality), this most certainly includes Akechi considering his tight connections with the protagonist. As well, Maruki himself says that he was saddened to learn of the protagonist's untimely separation from Akechi, and he wanted to use his own power to give the two of them a fresh start together (this may be because Akechi and the protagonist remind him of his own heartbreak of his relationship with Rumi).
However, the unclear nature of this situation may mean that Maruki could potentially be being untrue with the protagonist to get him to accept his reality. Akechi admits he has a gap in his memory between the encounter with the Phantom Thieves in the engine room and Christmas Eve, meaning that he had an inkling of his true fate the whole time. This makes it seem like Maruki was in fact telling the truth. Even so, despite knowing this, Akechi still refuses the reality Maruki created because he believes it would be no different from being enslaved. Akechi then speaks alone with the protagonist and makes it clear that he decides his own path, urging the protagonist to fight Maruki even if it means losing him, saying that the indecisiveness betrays his wishes and is irritated if the protagonist argues that the issue isn't trivial. The protagonist is then given the option to accept Maruki's reality by canceling the heist on his own. If he doesn't, Loki will evolve into Hereward, with Akechi vowing to "sow chaos as far as the eye can see," intensely relieved and grateful to the protagonist for keeping their promise.
If the protagonist chooses to stay in Maruki's reality and has confirmed to do so, Akechi will be disgusted by his choice and angrily storm out of Leblanc, only to later reappear in the ending, this time perfectly at ease in the new reality, because at this point, none of his struggles as an assassin or thief had a need to occur at all, and he remembers no different. The same ending that occurs when the protagonist directly accepts Maruki's offer during their second visit to his Palace will play afterwards. The final photo during this ending will show the Phantom Thieves having fun at Leblanc... except Akechi and the protagonist, who are seen staring at the player. This photo then fades away, starting from their position.
After Maruki is defeated and the original reality is restored, Akechi remains missing in the real world. When the other Phantom Thieves are told this by Morgana, they express their dismay. Ryuji even points out that Akechi fought hard, knowing he would disappear all this time. In the Velvet Room, Lavenza says that this is because everything will be reverted back to how it was supposed to be, including Akechi's death and the protagonist being arrested.
When saying goodbyes to everyone, if the protagonist decides to visit the Jazz Club and has maxed Akechi's Confidant, the owner will ask the protagonist if he knows where Akechi is, which reminds him of the glove in his pocket and that their duel is "not over."
Should the protagonist max out Akechi's Confidant, in the epilogue of the true ending, a glimpse of a figure resembling Akechi is passing by the train of the protagonist accompanied by two men, with their faces obscured by the glare of the window. The figures walk past while the protagonist is distracted by a notification on his phone. This sighting leaves Akechi's ultimate fate uncertain.
In New Game Plus, Akechi can wear his Black Mask outfit during the Sixth Heist and his Crow outfit upon rejoining during the third semester. This only changes his aesthetics and does not change his other in-game properties such as his Persona or his All-out Attack portraits.
===Confidant===
Akechi's Confidant is automatically established on June 10th. This Confidant progresses along with the story, and can only progress past Rank 7 if the protagonist answers Sae's questions correctly during the interrogation in November. Because Akechi's stay in the party is only temporary, his battle abilities are all activated when he first joins. This Confidant will automatically reach max rank during the main storyline. Maxing this Confidant unlocks the fusion of Metatron; this depends on when Akechi is fought in Shido's Palace, with November 25th as the earliest, and December 16th as the latest. Akechi's Confidant is one of two that does not have a farewell gift to the protagonist, a result of his sacrifice for him.
Rank	Date 	Ability 	Description
1 	June 10th 	- 	-
2 	July 24th 	- 	-
3 	August 28th 	- 	-
4 	October 24th 	- 	-
5 	October 26th 	- 	-
6 	October 29th 	Baton Pass 	Allows you to pass your turn over to other Baton Pass users after a 1 More.
6 	October 29th 	Follow Up 	Chance to perform a follow-up attack if Joker's attack does not down the enemy.
6 	October 29th 	Detective Talk 	Chance to step in after Shadow negotiation fails, allowing a retry.
6 	October 29th 	Harisen Recovery	Chance to cure status ailments inflicted upon party members.
7 	November 19th – After clearing Niijima's Palace 	- 	-
8 	November 20th – After answering Sae's questions correctly	- 	-
9 	Encounter Akechi in Shido's Palace 	- 	-
10 	Defeat Akechi 	- 	-
====Royal====
In Royal, Akechi's Confidant is manual. Like before, his Confidant will be established automatically. The player can then rank him up to Rank 6, but cannot rank him up any higher until Akechi joins the party during Niijima's Palace. Once he joins, the player can rank him up to Rank 8, which is the max level of the manual portion of his Confidant. Ranks 9 and 10 occur exactly in the same scenario as with the original Persona 5, but only if Rank 8 was attained. If the player did not reach Ranks 2, 4, or 7 before completing Niijima's Palace, his abilities will not be usable for the rest of the game. When his Confidant is maxed under the right conditions, Robin Hood and Loki merge to become Hereward.
Akechi's story involves forming an unexpected bond with the protagonist by hanging out in different places in Kichijoji. After meeting the protagonist at the TV studio, Akechi decides to invite him to play billiards in Kichijoji during his spare time. As they play, the protagonist notices something off, specifically with Akechi's hands; he is usually a lefty, as shown when he was shaking the protagonist's hand at the TV studio, as well as when they were playing billiards. However, in the most recent game, he was playing with his right hand. When he brings this up to Akechi, he explains he was trying to go easy on him and is slightly ambidextrous. Akechi then challenges the protagonist that if he's able to win against him while using his right hand, Akechi will take him on seriously.
Later on, he invites the protagonist to a restaurant to eat cake. While they are eating, multiple bystanders notice him due to his celebrity status, much to Akechi's dismay as they must leave the store early to avoid disturbance. To solve this, the protagonist gives Akechi his glasses and also messes up his hair a bit as a decoy to shoo away his fans, which is successful. Surprised by the protagonist's spontaneous idea, Akechi expresses his gratitude.
Once again, Akechi invites the protagonist to a place in Kichijoji, this time the Jazz Jin. Inside, they have drinks while listening to gentle jazz music inside. After saying that the place is his go-to place, Akechi is shocked when the protagonist tells him that he lives in a café, sharing about his own lack of cooking experience. Akechi admits that the protagonist is the first person he brought to the place, showing that they have a strange connection.
While Akechi was busy with his detective job, he noticed some people at an arcade playing a shooting game and got interested in it, so he calls the protagonist to come and try the game out with him. Akechi wins against the protagonist, and calls the game nostalgic due to it reminding him of playing and wanting to be a hero when he was a kid. Akechi delves further into the subject about a different kind of heroes that exists such as those who stick to their own justice even if denied by others or one who simply does what others said to seek recognition and gratification as a hero.
The protagonist comes home one night to find Akechi sitting at a table in Leblanc. While sitting there, Sojiro suggests that they go to the bathhouse nearby to calm down. While they are sitting in the tub, Akechi begins to talk about his past to the protagonist. His father had left when he was really young, and his mother, who works at a nightclub, forced him to go to the bathhouse whenever she brought a man home. When they get out, Akechi points out how he and the protagonist share an unusual bond because they both had adults that ruined their lives (at this point, neither of them were aware that it was the same adult, Masayoshi Shido, for both of them). After the bath, Akechi calls the protagonist and tells him how he can't figure him out and is intrigued by how despite having common ground, they are a total opposite in other aspects.
The rest of his Confidant can only progress after Akechi joins the Phantom Thieves. The two eventually go to play billiards again, with Akechi comparing their game to changing hearts and, more indirectly, his own agenda and plan to discredit Shido. While they are standing outside, Akechi asks a surprising question to the protagonist: if he wants to abandon his friends and join Akechi alone. Although the protagonist may answer with mere contemplation and outright rejection, the only answer Akechi will not be dissatisfied with is him declaring that he is the protagonist's rival, to which he reacts with surprise, but happily accepts the role.
The next time the protagonist meets Akechi, he requests that the two of them go to Mementos alone. After wondering why he brought them there, he explains that they will have a duel, which Akechi had been longing to do for a very long time, supposedly in exchange for beating him with his non-dominant hand in billiard. The two of them will then have a 1-on-1 duel. Should the protagonist lose, Akechi claims dominance but will allow the protagonist to challenge him as many times as he wants. If the protagonist wins, the two will go back to reality where Akechi will question the protagonist's strengths in having his allies. Akechi then tells the protagonist that he hates him. He goes into detail of the protagonist's traits that he admires and puts himself down by comparison, making it sound like Akechi wishes he could be like the protagonist. He eventually throws his glove at the protagonist as a challenge for another duel at a later date.
Once Akechi betrays the Phantom Thieves, he will fight them at Shido's Palace, where he will automatically reach Rank 9 and 10 during the story, as in the original Persona 5, but only if Rank 8 was attained.
Rank	Ability 	Description
- 	 	Chance to perform a follow-up attack if Joker's attack does not down the enemy.
- 	 	If negotiation with a god-like Shadow fails, you can try again.
2 	Sleuthing Instinct	Chance to reveal one enemy affinity at the start of battle.
4 	Sleuthing Mastery 	Chance to reveal all of one enemy's affinities at the start of battle.
7 	Harisen Recovery 	Chance to cure status ailments inflicted upon party members.
MAX 	Endure 	Chance to withstand an otherwise fatal attack with 1 HP remaining.
MAX 	Protect 	Chance to shield Joker from an otherwise fatal attack.
=== Persona 5 The Animation The Day Breakers ===
Akechi makes an appearance on TV, where he is asked his opinion on the Phantom Thieves of Hearts. His response is that whether or not they truly exist, they are criminals who should be brought to justice; he goes on to denounce their actions, and believes that forcing people to change what's in their hearts is wrong.
He is later present at the arrest of Kazuya Makigami and his gang, noticing the protagonist when Kazuya sees him.
=== Persona 5 The Animation ===
Akechi has a more active role in helping Ren escape from the Casino. Throughout the series, Akechi is seen in interviews on various media devices. Akechi makes his physical appearance during the tenth episode and like before, voices his disapproval of The Phantom Thieves' methods. His Black Mask persona appears during the battle with Kaneshiro, observing the fight through the security monitors.
Unlike in the game, Ren's interactions with Akechi are shown in detail, such as having him help investigate Futaba's uncle in his blackmail against Sojiro Sakura.
Later, he fulfills the same role as in the game, trying to assassinate Ren during Sae's interrogation during the final episode of the anime. He assassinates Ren after Sae shows him his phone. Judging from the purple flash and the blue butterfly that appears before he enters the interrogation room to assassinate Ren, he had just assassinated Ren's cognitive copy.
In the Dark Sun special, Akechi's role is similar to the events of the game, meeting up with Shido and reminiscing on how they met, to him lamenting during the talk show and eventual fight against the Phantom Thieves in the engine room. Though in this, he is implied to have assassinated the SWAT team responsible for capturing Ren as well, most likely to clean up loose ends.
During the engine room fight, he fights solo against Ren and is pushed back due to hits from the leader's gunfire. Enraged, he transforms into his true form as the "Black Mask" and summons Loki to attack, a move that leads to Ren's initial persona, Arsène, to clash with his own. He clashes with Ren in a melee battle, wrathful and baffled as to how despite Ren having a criminal record, he has what Akechi doesn't: friends.
In the end, Arsène bests Loki and Akechi is defeated. Like in the game, cognitive Akechi appears and summons Shadows to deal with the Phantom Thieves and Akechi himself. However, in the animation's version of events, Akechi is able to kill the cognitive version of himself and returns the black king piece that Ren gave to him before (signifying how Ren finally outplayed Akechi) before closing the shutters. With this version of events, the last we see of Akechi is him staring down a horde of Shadows before the point of view switches to the side of the Phantom Thieves. They hear rounds of gunfire go off on the other end, while Futaba confirms that his signal is gone. With the implication of Akechi's fate, the Thieves are saddened by their loss, with Ren, in particular, slamming his fist against the door, but they are forced to press on in order to change Shido's heart in his stead.
In the Stars and Ours special, near the end of the battle against Yaldabaoth when the Phantom Thieves are immobilized by the false god, Ren hears Akechi's voice encouraging him while he holds the chess piece Akechi returned to him.
In the Proof of Justice special, which takes place after Shido's change of heart, Ren and Morgana find "Proof of Justice" in Akechi's hand-writing, in a zigzag puzzle magazine that Akechi played before. Morgana dismisses it as a mere scribble and that Akechi is already gone, but Ren is curious of its meaning. The next day, Ren visits the places where he used to hang out with Akechi, reminiscing about their time together. Ren spends the whole day asking around about the words and finds nothing until he overhears a child whining to his father about "Proof of Justice." When Ren asks, it turns out the words came from a toy gun commercial. Ren recognizes the toy gun as similar to the one Akechi used in the Palace. This makes Ren realize that the words represent Akechi's desire to be a hero. 
Back at Leblanc, Ren laments his inability to save Akechi, but is determined to move forward for the sake of his own proof of justice. The next morning, Ren arranges the chess board that he usually played with Akechi and places the chess piece he once entrusted to Akechi, acknowledging Akechi as both his friend and rival.
===Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth===
As the game takes place during the Sixth Heist, Akechi is included as a party member as Crow. He is in the party's default team and is one of the brains of the cast, helping in solving the puzzles and riddles throughout the labyrinths. While he can be seen as distant, he is much easier to interact with and does not display obvious signs of his darkness, though the majority of Phantom Thieves still don't hold him in high regard.
When meeting the P4 cast, he is interested in Naoto Shirogane, who was the first Detective Prince before him. They get along fairly well, due to their sharp wit and shared careers as detectives. Akechi is also able to relate to Naoto in how she used to suppress her real self so people around her would acknowledge her. There is a side-quest in which both of them must work together to find the culprit who steals Theodore's handmade popcorn (later revealed to be Caroline & Justine disguised as Teddie). This experience grants Akechi and Naoto a unison attack which they can use together against an enemy.
Akechi's insecurity grows as he adventures in the labyrinths, watching the rest of the cast accepting each other for who they truly are. The P5 hero notices the change in Akechi's behavior, though Akechi denies it. 
There are two side-quests where this is further elaborate. Koromaru, sensing Akechi purposely distancing himself from the others, grows unusually close to him in an effort to get him to open up. Ken starts to think that Akechi is different from the rest of Phantom Thieves after seeing Koromaru's behavior towards Akechi, stating that Koromaru would notice when someone is putting up a wall. Akechi assures Ken that there's nothing wrong with him, but later quietly reveals his astonishment at Koromaru's sharp instinct. Shinjiro also notices Akechi’s isolation from his team and correctly surmises Akechi’s dark past. He comforts him to look ahead and stop letting his past bind him. Akechi turns down the suggestion, however, as he cannot understand the notion of getting over his actions.
At the end of the game, he stutters for a bit before returning back to reality alongside the Phantom Thieves. Unlike the other members of the group, he does not appear in the post-credits events, indicating that he is still the traitor. According to the official artbook, the experience has made Akechi aware of how unfavorable his personality actually is and he does not wish to leave, as he fears reverting back to his old self.
==Game Data==
===Boss===
====Strategy====
left|250px|Akechi's boss battle.
Unlike most other major boss fights in the game, Akechi is fairly straightforward and does not possess many gimmicks or high enough defense to stall the fight for long. Most of his movement patterns are linear and predictable, allowing the party to outmaneuver him with specific methods. The party should still prepare and recover HP/SP after defeating Ongyo-Ki but before leaving the engine room, as that will trigger the boss encounter instantly and his attacks hit fairly hard. The party also cannot use a Goho-M after defeating Ongyo-Ki, so fuse the required Personas beforehand.
During the first phase, Akechi is shielded by Guard Dog of Hades and Spear-wielding General. He will cause them to use Desperation which greatly raises their offense at the cost of defense. As these two heavily favor physical attacks, throwing up Physical Ointments or Tetrakarn will speed up this part of the fight.
Once his two minions are down, Akechi enters the fight himself, attacking the protagonist exclusively in this order: Kougaon, Eigaon, Megaton Raid. This makes Akechi easily exploitable by putting up Tetrakarn and Makarakarn on the protagonist in the right order, but otherwise both shields can be set up at once, allowing for some thinking in advance. This pattern will repeat until Akechi's health is halved, in which he will use his next turn to cast Megidolaon. If the battle continues past that turn, Akechi will use his next two turns to Charge then Megaton Raid towards the protagonist.
In the second phase, Akechi focuses on Physical attacks. Every other turn, he will use Tetrakarn to repel Physical attacks and use Brave Blade afterward. If Akechi would cast Tetrakarn and it is already active on him, he will cast Deathbound instead. On the turns where he does not use Tetrakarn, he will use Negative Pile as his first action, followed by Brave Blade, which is dangerous if the target is the protagonist and he is inflicted with Despair. It is best for the protagonist to use a Persona which nullifies/repels the damage of his Physical attacks.
After a portion of his HP is down, he will begin focusing on Magic-based skills. Like the previous phase, every other turn, he will use Makarakarn to repel Magic attacks and follow it with Eigaon. Again like the first phase, if Makarakarn is already active when he would cast it, he will cast another skill, in this case; Megidolaon. It is recommended not to have Yusuke in the party, since on the turns where Akechi does not cast Makarakarn, he will cast Maragion followed by Maeiga, which will cause Akechi to gain a One More if Maragion lands on him. The protagonist should be wary of using Personas that are vulnerable to Fire or Curse skills.
When his HP is reduced to at least a third, Akechi will begin to routinely switch patterns, but he does not use a Physical skill along with a Magic skill in his turns. Occasionally, and on the first turn of this phase, Akechi will use Laevateinn, a powerful Almighty-type skill, at the protagonist which cannot be deflected. It is wise to have the protagonist guard to reduce the damage, and have his allies recover his HP or also reduce Akechi's offensive damage and increase the protagonist's defense. A Spotlight or Limelight item may also cause Akechi to target another party member with Laevateinn, though this is not recommended. After using this, Akechi will then cycle between using Physical attacks, Magic attacks and preparing and using Laevateinn.
Whenever Akechi successfully downs an enemy, he will use the One More to apply Desperation on himself. If this effect is already applied, he will perform a different action, chosen in order; Dekaja if the party has any buffs, Dekunda if he has any debuffs, Heat Riser if neither he nor the party has any buffs or debuffs or Debilitate if he has any buffs and the party does not have any buffs.
====Royal====
Unlike in Persona 5, Berserk Cerberus is weak to Ice. Therefore, if Berserk Cu Chulainn is defeated and Berserk Cerberus is downed, an All-out Attack can be used. Finishing all enemies with an All-out Attack automatically skips Akechi's Robin Hood phase.
===Stats===
Stats for Akechi are identical in both Persona 5 and Royal.
<tabber>
First phase=
|-|
Second phase=
</tabber>
===Justice Confidant Rank 8, Royal===
During Rank 8, the protagonist is required to drop Akechi's HP to one-third alone. It is recommended to save before interacting with him, since even if being defeated by him will not result in a Game Over, it ends the day and can potentially waste valuable time slots.
Akechi will always attack in this order: Megaton Raid > Eiga > Kouga. Once Akechi's health is down by a quarter, the order will be Megaton Raid > Eiga > Kouga > Megidola. Of these, Megidola is the most dangerous by far, so it is recommended to heal to full or close to full HP before he casts it.
==Quotes==
==Etymology==
"Go" (吾) of Gorou is the archaic form of the first-person pronoun "I" in Chinese which carries no meaning in formal Japanese language and is merely borrowed for Chinese translation or naming, while "Ro" (郎) is a suffix attached to certain male given names, meaning "son," undoubtedly a reference to his relationship to Shido. Read as meichi, 明智 (Akechi) is an uncommon word meaning "wisdom" or "sagacity."
It could also be a reference to (明智 小五郎, Akechi Kogorō), a fictional private detective created by Japanese mystery writer (a pseudonym for Tarō Hirai) from the story "The Case of the Murder on D. Hill" in January 1925 and continued to appear in stories for a quarter of a century. Edogawa Rampo is considered the father of the Japanese detective story and was a great admirer of Sir . Akechi is the first recurring detective character in Japanese fiction and is clearly inspired by Doyle's . It also makes sense for Akechi to be the rival of the team as in the introduction to the translated version of "The Early Cases of Kogoro Akechi," The Fiend with Twenty Faces (Akechi's main rival) is referred to as "more of an Arsène Lupin than a Moriarty."
It may also be a reference to , a retainer of the notorious daimyo and conqueror Oda Nobunaga who rebelled against him for reasons that are often interpreted as disgust for Nobunaga's flaunting of bushido. This ties to aside from betraying the Phantom Thieves, he is also a traitor to Shido as well, as Shido has ambitions that can be compared to Nobunaga.
Goro Akechi's codename, Crow, or specifically "Karasu," Japanese for "Raven," has been elaborated on in a class question on November 10th: the difference between the Kanji for "crow" and a regular "bird" is that the crow's doesn't have a symbol that represents the eyes, as a crow's body is black, and it's hard to see the eye. In spite of that, crows have very good vision. Morgana points to how he finds them scary when they come in contact with him and their wings start flapping.Class question on 11/10, Persona 5. Akechi's codename likely points to his concentrated, analytical, yet aggressive and isolating nature towards his targets.
==In Other Languages==
Language 	Titles 	Titles 	Titles
English 	Goro Akechi 	Crow 	Black Mask
Japanese 	明智 吾郎 (Akechi Gorou) 	クロウ (Kurou) 	黒い仮面 (Kuroi Kamen)
Korean 	아케치 고로 (Akechi Goro) 	크로우 (Keurou) 	검은 가면 (Geom-eun Gamyeon)
Traditional Chinese	明智 吾郎 (Míngzhì Wúláng) 	CROW 	黑色 面具 (Hēisè Miànjù)
==Trivia==
*The gun Akechi uses is a with a detachable suppressor.
*Gameplay-wise with his Persona Robin Hood, Akechi directly borrows Naoto Shirogane's key moveset, consisting of clean attacks with complementary insta-kill spells, down to the pattern of the affinities: single-target Physical and multi-target Almighty, Light and Dark.
*Akechi breaks the recurring trend of the protagonist's rival/antagonist having the same English voice actor as the protagonist. In Persona 3, Ryoji Mochizuki was voiced by the same voice actor as Makoto Yuki (Akira Ishida/Yuri Lowenthal), while in Persona 4, Tohru Adachi was voiced by the same English voice actor as Yu Narukami (Johnny Yong Bosch). Goro Akechi, on the other hand, is voiced by Soichiro Hoshi/Robbie Daymond, while Ren Amamiya is voiced by Jun Fukuyama/Xander Mobus.
*Akechi is one of the few confidants (along with Sae Niijima) and the sole party member not given any alternative mocking title in the official Japanese site of the vanilla Persona 5.
*Ordinarily, in the Japanese version, Akechi's name is written in kanji. It is used for all of his text boxes, as well as the boss title card for his first fight. However, during the fight against his black-masked form, his name is displayed on his boss title card in katakana as "アケチ ゴロウ." This is the only time Akechi's name is written this way, as the kanji is still used for his dialogue boxes during this same fight.
*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.
**According to Persona 5: Mementos Reports Vol. 3, both his personas are aspects of him, so there is no particular order to their awakening.  This could imply that they were awakened at the same time.
**In Persona 5 Royal, Futaba claims that this is because Akechi never trusted anyone, so he got one Persona for his lies, and one for his hate (referring to Robin Hood and Loki.)
**Akechi himself hints at the idea of having the same potential as the protagonist in a conversation between him and Yusuke in the Thieves Den, before jokingly shrugging it off.
*Akechi has the ability to change his Metaverse outfit; how he is the only one to do so is never elaborated upon.
*Despite being a party member only briefly, Akechi won first place in a Sega Festival 2016 poll for a favorite party member.
*According to an episode of Persona Stalker Club, Akechi's attaché case contains a laptop and documents about various cases. The "A" mark stands for "Akechi," and was created by him because he likes to show off. The period after the "A" indicates an abbreviation for "answer."
**Maniax states that it also contains student supplies, food and water if he has to rush to work without time to eat, and free samples like sweets or cosmetics for men from parties at TV stations.
*Within the Metaverse, Akechi's stance mirrors the protagonist's but lacks the natural sway that the protagonist has; instead, he stands completely still.
*Many of Akechi's DLC outfits hint at his status as the traitor: he is dressed as a major antagonist for three sets (Boss from Catherine, Ideo Hazama from Shin Megami Tensei: if... and General Munakata from Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army) and as a major enemy-turned-ally for the Persona 2 set, as he's the only one wearing the Kasugayama uniform: the same worn by Jun Kurosu and Eikichi Mishina, though the latter being a party member since the start. In the Featherman Suit, Akechi is the Silver Ranger with red eyes on his visor, both are common indicators of evil Rangers in Super Sentai franchise.
*Just like with Makoto Niijima before, the official twitter account for the Persona series posted a "Happy Birthday" message for Akechi on June 2, 2017, JST.
*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.
*In Maniax, Akechi's message for someone in the PT reads: To the leader: "You don't seem to excel particularly in areas of looks, intelligence, or athletics. Yet I wonder why people tend to gather around you... it makes me very curious."
*In Shido's Palace, the Justice Confidant ranks up from 8 to 9, and then 9 to 10, in back-to-back story cutscenes. Since there is no opportunity to go to the menu to view the Confidant menu in-between those 2 rank up scenes due to boss battles, the description for Justice rank 9 is normally not viewable in-game.
**Rank 9 reads as follows: "Akechi's objective is to settle the score that stems from his hatred for—and attachment to—Shido, the father who threw him away. Now an enemy after revealing his true feelings, Akechi attacked..."
*In the Japanese version of the game, the flavor text before Akechi's Confidant is maximized is unique: "I feel a certain/doubtless bond (確かな) with Akechi...", while most Confidants have a hard/solid bond (固い). This most likely alludes to contrast Akechi's public image and his duality. The message's meaning doesn't carry over to the English or Korean translation.
*Akechi's Confidant was originally planned to be optional in Persona 5. Because he became an enemy, later on, it was difficult to incorporate it into the plot, so his Confidant became automatic. This idea was later restored in Persona 5 Royal.
*Every party member learns Protect upon reaching Rank 9 Confidant, in which they sacrifice themselves to protect the protagonist from a fatal attack. Upon reaching Rank 9 for Akechi in the story, Akechi sacrifices himself to protect the protagonist and his party against Shido's cognitive Akechi and Shadows. In Royal, however, he possesses the ability normally after rejoining.
*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.
**In Persona 5 Royal, however, they both deliberately make a point to speak with him as little as possible during the third semester, showing that they still don't wish to be amicable towards him. 
**According to the official interview from the Persona 5 Royal Official Complete Guide, Futaba and Haru were deliberately designed to distance themselves from directly interacting with Akechi during the third semester to display that they never forgave him.
**During a game of Tycoon in the Thieves Den, Akechi cannot be at the same table as Futaba or Haru.
*Akechi is the only major boss in Persona 5 that is fought while securing the treasure route instead of after.
*If the Phantom Thieves fail the deadline for completing Shido's Palace, Akechi will arrive at Leblanc with a squad of police to arrest the protagonist personally. If the protagonist waits too long to send the calling card, this can occur even after Akechi was fought in the Palace, which creates a paradox as it's all but confirmed he vanished after his defeat.
*Unlike other team members who join the party, a book based on Akechi's persona, Robin Hood, isn't available to check out at the library in Persona 5.
**Files in the game, however, indicate that there is a book on Robin Hood which would raise the Kindness stat.List of unused books in Persona 5
***Although added in Persona 5 Royal, the updated book boosts Guts instead of Kindness.
*Unused Shadow negotiation files in the game indicate that Akechi was intended to have a Palace at some point, as he's referred to as "Lord Akechi/Master Akechi." The inconsistent naming seems to be the result of a mistranslation since his name is the same in the Japanese version of these lines. Akechi's Palace was likely meant to be after Sae's Palace, as palace assets go from Sae's Palace (57) to Shido's Palace (59), skipping 58 which the unused negotiation lines are associated with.Unused Akechi Darts Conversation
*There are unused files in the game for an unfinished scrapped phase of the Akechi battle. The used phases are internally called AKECHI_1 and AKECHI_3, meaning this scrapped phase was supposed to be an in-between phase called AKECHI_2. The unused phase seems to have been scrapped early as Akechi has no AI programmed, but the battle takes place in the area where you fight Shido with the instrumental version of Rivers in the Desert playing, indicating that Akechi was intended to be fought after sending the calling card to Shido instead of before.Unused Akechi boss dialogue
**In addition to this, the cutscene files for encountering Akechi as well as the cutscenes in-between and after the battles are found after the cutscene files for sending the calling card.
*According to the Artbook of Q2, Akechi is the one who painted the Phantom Thieves (excluding himself) in the subway during the opening movie.
**In the opening sequence to Q2, he holds the spray paint can in his right hand despite being left-handed.
*Early in development when the developers were unsure of what Akechi's role was going to be, one idea floating around was that he could be Makoto's older sibling, which ended up being Sae's role in the final game.
*In Royal, Akechi gives his glove to the protagonist at Rank 8 with a promise that he will defeat him the next time they fight. This mirrors the time Ren gave Akechi the chess piece that he and Akechi usually use to play, along with a promise to defeat him in Persona 5 The Animation.
*In Royal, even if he joins the party as the Black Mask, Akechi's Persona Q2 DLC Outfit always has him retain his princely outfit's appearance.
*During the protagonist's Showtime with Akechi, if he is wearing any costume that exposes his face, it can be seen that his eyes glow red throughout.
*Unlike most enemies in the Metaverse, Futaba was seemingly unable to detect Akechi being nearby at all even long before his assumed death in Shido's Palace.
*During a Mementos skit in the third semester, it's revealed that Akechi still holds a grudge concerning his exposure courtesy of his "pancakes" comment.
**This could be a reference to the same line becoming a popular meme in the community following the release of Persona 5, even being acknowledged by , Akechi's English voice actor, himself.
***Akechi is shown eating pancakes in his Persona 5 Royal PSN theme.
*When he rejoins in January in Royal, his portraits are colder and more blunt compared to those before his betrayal.
**In the Royal completion guide, it is revealed that these new sprites were a late development decision brought up by the art team.
*According to the Proof of Justice OVA and his Confidant in Royal, Akechi cannot cook.
*When Akechi takes the role of temporary Navigator, if he loses all of his HP in battle, unlike Morgana, who hides behind the sidelines to continue providing support during battle, he will simply faint and his navigation will cease.
*According to his Rank 5 Confidant hangout in Royal, Akechi's greatest desire is to become a hero, and he would often carry a toy raygun around his home to play as one when he was young.
*Akechi's Rank 8 Confidant scene in Royal is the only non-max rank optional Confidant scene in the game that is fully voiced.
**Akechi also has the only third awakening scene that is fully voiced.
*If Akechi is invited to play Darts in Kichijoji, no other party member will show up alongside him, aside from Morgana. Furthermore, unlike any other party member, he will only play 701 darts (the hardest difficulty) and nothing else.
**Despite this, there's still dialogue for Akechi throwing last both before and during the third semester, which is impossible due to the protagonist always throwing last while playing 701 darts.Unused Akechi Darts Conversation
***He states that he's always calm in response to one of the protagonist's dialogue options before he throws during the third semester, but he's the exact opposite of calm while fighting in the Metaverse.
*In Akechi's in-game model, his Black Mask helmet is completely black. However, in his dialogue portraits (after his boss battle in Shido's Palace), the helmet is tinted blue while the visor is tinted dark red. During the third semester, the visor is tinted blue to match the rest of the helmet.
*In the Persona 5 Royal Official Guide, Kazuhisa Wada stated that Akechi serves as both rival and deuteragonist.
*Persona 5 Strikers is the first game in the Persona 5 series where Goro Akechi is not physically present, nor is he even mentioned.
*Akechi is the only party member who has more than one Cut-in for battle. In Royal, instead of having his Cut-in from his boss battle, he is given a new Cut-in after rejoining the party, giving him a total of 3 different Cut-ins.
**Technically speaking, the protagonist also has more than one Cut-in, but the additional one is only used during mini-games such as Darts or Fishing, not in battle.
*In Persona 5 Royal, there are unused voice lines for Akechi that were meant to be used for a supposed Showtime in his Prince attire. It is unknown who he would've used it with, but it was most likely meant to be unlocked during Niijima's Palace. This would make Akechi the only party member to have a Showtime change during the game.
*While it is never shown in canon, Akechi has an "awakening" for obtaining Robin Hood. Created as a completely original scene for the Identity V crossover collaboration, it only plays when obtaining his prince outfit during the event. It was created to match the other character's awakening scenes, without revealing spoilers from Persona 5 and Royal.
*Datamined assets show that Akechi has the application on his phone."Akechi has reddit on his phone", @ScrambledFaz (September 4, 2021)
*Akechi shares the same blood type as Futaba: AB-, which is extremely rare in Japan.
*In Royal, Black Mask Akechi uses early unused versions of the tactics selection animations from his Prince outfit rather than the final ones the Prince outfit uses.Early Prince Outfit Animation
*When Akechi is fighting in his Prince outfit, he is using his right hand when summoning Persona. However, when he is in his Black Mask outfit, Akechi summons his Persona with his left hand.
*Akechi apparently has a taste for dark humor. With a smile, he tells Ryuji that Captain Kidd was hanged in Royal. In Q2, before he can reveal to the group where "sci-fi meat" comes from, grinning all the while, Naoto stops him out of disgust.
*Mentioned in the passing conversation of Shujin students, it is stated that Akechi consistently scores at the top of the country in the practice exams.
*According to Mementos dialogue in Persona 5, Akechi enjoys horror movies.https://youtu.be/lmaC6ucLvB4?t=4523 
*Akechi states he prefers black tea when he's tired.https://youtu.be/lmaC6ucLvB4?t=4686 
*At one point in Mementos, Akechi considered buying a motorcycle.https://youtu.be/lmaC6ucLvB4?t=4768 
*Due to his public image, Akechi has been given special permission not to attend school.https://youtu.be/lmaC6ucLvB4?t=4793 
*Akechi actually finds a lot of the detective work he does boring. Other characters' responses compare it to minor and petty work, such as "finding lost cats" and "catching people in affairs."https://youtu.be/lmaC6ucLvB4?t=4848 
*In Royal, Black Mask Akechi's Safe Room idle animation is bugged. His right hand is placed at the bottom of his sleeve which results in it looking like it's detached from his arm. The animation was fixed in the 2022 remaster.
*Akechi's tie, which is only visible at its full length in his summer uniform, is longer in Royal.https://twitter.com/akcgo/status/1620504707998576641
===Unused Content in Persona 5 Royal===
thumb|right|250px|Akechi's unused event
An unused scenario in Persona 5 Royal implies that Akechi was alive after escaping Shido's Palace, via unknown means.
On December 24th, the same day Sae negotiates the protagonist's arrest, Akechi signs in to a kakekomidera—a type of refuge that asks no questions and sometimes takes in people fleeing organised crime. Because his mother sought refuge there when he was a child, the staff remember him. However, in Maruki's reality, Akechi is in Shibuya on 12/24, where he steps in to be arrested in the protagonist's place.
In the deleted scene, Akechi plans to leave the refuge to repay his debt to the protagonist, in what is made clear is a significant way: him and his team will be thanking me for the rest of their lives. This suggests he would have turned himself in a second time, to again get the protagonist out of detention.
===Appearances in Other Media===
Title 	Details 	Date 	External Links
Puzzle & Dragons 	Collaboration event* Crow, Attacker, Light/Dark Type, 5-star 	July 16th, 2018 – July 29th, 2018Persona Collab Arrives! Puzzle & Dragons (July 13, 2018) 	Article on the Puzzle & Dragons Database
Puyo Puyo!! Quest 	Collaboration event for Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth* Crow, Balance Type, 6-star 	December 3rd, 2018Persona 3, 4, 5 Popular Scene Vote Results, Persona Q2 Line Stamps Announced, Persona Q2 x Puyo Puyo!! Quest Collaboration. Persona Central (Reggy, November 24th, 2018)	Article on the Puyo Nexus
Kyoutou Kotoba RPG 	Collaboration event* Akechi (Enemy > Can join as Kotodaman), Normal (5-star), Phantom Thief (6-star)	March 5th, 2019 – March 28th, 2019Persona 5 x Kyoutou Kotoba RPG: Kotodaman Collaboration Trailer, Starts on March 5, 2019. Persona Central (Reggy, March 4th, 2019) 	
 	Part of the Joker DLC* Palette swap for Joker* Spirit (Support, Advanced Class) 	April 17th, 2019 	on SmashWiki
Identity V 	Second collaboration event* Skin for First Officer 	November 7th, 2019 – November 28th, 2019Persona 5 x Identity V Collaboration Part 2 Announced for November 7 to November 28, 2019 Persona Central (Reggy, November 6th, 2019) 	
BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle	* Color swap for Tohru Adachi 	* May 31, 2018 (Japan)* June 5, 2018 (North America)* June 22, 2018 (Europe) 	
Last Cloudia 	Collaboration event for Persona 5 Royal* Akechi, Playable Character 	June 2, 2022 	WebsiteNews article (JP)
NieR Reincarnation 	Collaboration event for Persona 5 Royal* Crow, Playable Character 	September 15, 2022, to October 12, 2022 	Article in NieR Wiki
==References==
Category:Persona 5 The Animation Characters
Category:Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight Characters
Category:Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight Characters
Category:Persona 5 Enemies
Category:Persona 5 Bosses
Category:Persona Q2 Characters
Category:Persona Q2 Allies
Category:Justice Arcana
Category:Persona 5 Royal Characters
Category:Persona 5 Allies
Category:Wild Card users
Category:Persona 5: The Phantom X Characters
Category:Persona users
Category:Persona 5 Tactica Characters