General Public

The General Public , also referred to as the Masses, is a recurring concept in the series. It refers to a broad community of people most prominently defined by the collective unconscious, and play a significant role in the themes of various stories, but are most prominent in entries such as those of the Persona series.
==Appearances==
* Soul Hackers 2
* Persona 3 / FES / Portable / Reload
* Persona 4 / Golden
* Persona 5 / Royal
* Persona 5 Strikers
==Details==
===Soul Hackers 2===
Set in the 2050's, society in the near future has been described to have "stagnated" in every way, be it cultural, economical, or technological. It is now solely defined by both materialism and a lack of intellectual curiosity. It is said that most major cities haven't changed at all in the past three to four decades. Even the neon lights of the neon world were designed to induce nostalgia in the 2020s, which according to Milady is also figuratively sold to them.
===Persona 3===
The people of Tatsumi Port Island generally come off as unremarkable if not somewhat unenthused, with most of them lacking reason to live and unconsciously wishing for The Fall as they transmogrify into coffins during the Dark Hour. Normal Shadows, at an increasing pace as more of the Arcana Shadows are defeated, attack the transmogrified civilians, giving them Apathy Syndrome.
Besides the school at the center, the island is mainly dominated by malls and train stations with vending machines throughout, along with one small, largely unused shrine with a playground, showing the population’s preference towards consumer goods above all else. There is an infamously shady alleyway which is often seen filled with delinquents, mainly teenagers who hate school, who hang around even past midnight.
Apathy Syndrome is explained to stem from the state of (Japanese) society, explaining it to be hopeless and without many opportunities, with Apathy Syndrome being caused by the "darkness" in their hearts completely taking over.
Most of the people who can consciously experience the Dark Hour are those with the potential to wield Personas, their unique abilities and heightened awareness setting themselves apart from the general public due to Persona users being the only ones who can put an end to the Dark Hour and save the masses from The Fall.
However, it is confirmed in The Answer when the reunited members of S.E.E.S. watch the 3/31 news broadcast that the residents of Tatsumi Port Island still seem just as dull as the people unaffected by Apathy Syndrome did in the previous year before Nyx was Sealed. Erebus, the manifestation of the public's longing for death, actively tries to rip the seal, the existence of which is now revealed to be protecting Nyx. It is implied that the public’s desire of death comes from a last-ditch attempt at giving their life meaning, echoing the actions of people like Shinjiro Aragaki. However, Aigis and the rest of the remaining members of S.E.E.S. conclude that they can protect society through simply living their lives, disbanding the group as they leave the dormitory to pursue their careers.
While most of these Persona Users occupying the island are certain adolescents who have the potential, Artificial Persona users can also experience the Dark Hour, although this may come from the knowledge they amassed during their involvement with the Kirijo Group rather than simply having Personas, which would also explain why the many Persona Users of Megami Ibunroku Persona, Persona 2: Innocent Sin, and Persona 2: Eternal Punishment can not experience the Dark Hour yet S.E.E.S. and Strega can.
The only non-Persona Users who can experience the Dark Hour are the members of the Kirijo Group who performed the experiments which led to the creation of the Dark Hour, although throughout of the game, the only remnants of that team who lack a Persona are Shuji Ikutsuki and Takeharu Kirijo. Members of the Kirijo Group being aware of and able to experience the Dark Hour sets them apart from most others residing in Tatsumi Port Island, reflecting their control as they’re the ones who created both the island and the Dark Hour and are thus more aware of what is happening.
===Persona 4===
The people of Inaba are a talkative and healthy community, influenced by mass broadcast media such as the television. The minds of the people are made manifest by the Midnight Channel, an alternate reality shaped from their dependency on the media.
The community of Inaba is at first defined by (passing) trends and rumors, especially those involving the reported affair between Taro Namatame and Mayumi Yamano, but would eventually become plagued in gossip that it overtakes their sense of truth and makes them dependent on TV and public opinion, such as the discourse surrounding local retired teen idol Risette. Since they rely on external information in order to communicate and comprehend, they generally talk about other people but never themselves, implying a fear they all hold of confronting themselves, instead drowning themselves in inane gossip.
Inaba goes into social chaos once it is enveloped with the fog which leaked from the Midnight Channel, spreading the rumor that the fog is poison, convincing some that they've gotten sick, and dividing people on the matter. They begin to ramble about their excitement of the end of the world within their newfound isolation.
===Persona 5===
The general public makes up most of the residents of Tokyo. Due to it being a massive city, unlike Tatsumi Port Island and Yasoinaba from previous titles, it is heavily populated with faceless masses, as opposed to the tightly-knit denizens of the previous two settings. This does not encompass Persona users such as the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, as well as Confidants or the owners of Palaces, the latter of which are usually corrupt individuals.
Their collective Palace is Mementos, taking the form of a series of subways filled with organic matter. As it is the Palace of the masses, compared to Palaces of individuals, the layout of its tunnels are constantly shifting. However, they can still be influenced by certain factors, such as the weather.
The public's sin is Sloth, demonstrated as when they do not speak up in a conformist society, no matter how much their superiors are abusing or wronging them, or others. They even willingly give up their freedom in exchange for personal security, enabling injustice to run rampant. This plays a key role in the formation of the Phantom Thieves, and having to instead rely on getting the criminal to confess for their own crimes by forcing a change of heart.
Furthermore, they can be led to believe the wrongs are the rights or vice versa, whether it's by being tricked, out of fear, or out of herd mentality. In the case of the latter, as all of the masses follow the same mindset, they only adhere to the concept of what the general public wants, which ironically manifests into reality once they do adopt their wants. Because of this, the public can easily be manipulated by others, whether it's on purpose or not.
The media exploits the masses for the sake of ratings, by twisting their stories to appeal to the "idiotic public." This applies to Kamoshida's crimes, where they frame it so they show them "crude, sensational news," and are made easy for them to understand. They are also not even interested in the credibility of Phantom Thieves at first, but they make them seem real regardless regardless of whether the facts are clear or even if they're wrong entirely.
One such instance is the general public's distrust towards the government via the mysterious psychotic breakdown incidents, which are blamed on the Ministry of Transport and then the Prime Minister himself. As the masses have no awareness of the Metaverse, the alternate world can be exploited into causing mass hysteria for political gain.
The Phantom Thieves' milestones aren't fruitless, and they do get everyone, including those who have ended up doing wrong to one-another, to reconcile and move on. For example, in Kamoshida's incident, the girls that have spread gossip for Ann Takamaki have apologized to her, with Ann already having put everything in the past, and Yuuki Mishima himself has decided to redeem himself for spreading sensitive information about the protagonist's background that Kamoshida's made him do.
At first, the public would merely be used as a literary device to emphasize on the consequences of the targets' actions by turning them against them: Kamoshida himself, having exploited ruining the reputation of his students, would find himself the talk of the country, including being banned from various exclusive communities and, according to the protagonist's options, be slandered in turn. Madarame, instead basing his fame on fraud, would not only have people forget about his now-debunked contributions, but they would only make comments on his ugly crying surrounding his confession.
On the Kaneshiro and the Medjed cases, criminals more directly involved with the public, the masses would begin to see the Thieves in a more positive light, while the police's reputation would plummet down to being seen as nothing more than a joke. The Medjed case in particular tried exploiting the Thieves' fame on a psychological scale, leaving them in an undesirable position where they're forced to choose between either revealing their identities or let Medjed damage the economy of Japan, leaving the burden of responsibility on the Phantom Thieves.
The group having proven themselves to the public wasn't necessarily a happy ending, as the public's abnormal behavior becomes extremely prominent when the Phantom Thief trend got into full swing, and everyone clamored for them to change the heart of Kunikazu Okumura. Aside from the uncannily high support of the Phantom Thieves, they had high expectations for the group and pressured them, enough that the vote on the Phan-site convinced them the Phantom Thieves would be aiming for Okumura next. Not only that, but they started to view the entire situation as entertainment, only wanting to watch someone in power beg for forgiveness. The Phantom Thieves would lose sight of their goal because they only cared about the opinion of the public, who were pressuring them to take up their requests so they could make a name for themselves and have a place to belong.
The public's descent to madness would only begin to unsettle the thieves, as their comments would go from irresponsible to downright disturbing, as they'd run their mouths about violence and execution. After Okumura's death, everyone would celebrate, only over the next few days to have the Phantom Thieves be falsely pinned as violent murderers over the deaths of him and Shujin Academy's principal. Even the Phantom Thieves themselves were caught off guard by the instant turn of events.
Despite Goro Akechi openly opposing the Phantom Thieves, the public's stance on him is fickle in a similar fashion, as he's initially a beloved figure, before he becomes detested after the Phantom Thieves prove their justice and establish influence over the public. After Okumura's death and the Phantom Thieves' fall from grace, however, he's again declared a hero, despite the hidden truth that Akechi was actually the one responsible for Okumura's assassination. Following the thieves' downfall, Akechi's reputation as a beloved figure would be set in stone, as he directly backs the manipulation of the conspiracy, and covers for the psychotic breakdowns he's instigated for them by solving the cases himself in appearance, but actually covering up the truth. Not only that, but Akechi himself would be heavily dependent on his fame, unable to listen to any form of reason as he believes that the trust of the masses are the basis of his self-worth, and he would be nothing more than a farce otherwise.
During the election season, the public would unerringly support Masayoshi Shido to install his radical nationalist policies that would inevitably cause their enslavement, supposedly having been swayed by his charismatic speechcraft that makes him look more reliable and relatable than he actually is, as well as manipulating information using the media. In addition, many of Shido's supporters do not offer a proper reason on why they support his premiership. They were also led to believe that the protagonist committed suicide while in custody, and most continued to believe this even after seeing and hearing the protagonist on public television.
On election day, Masayoshi Shido was inaugurated for premiership as expected, but suddenly confesses for his crimes during his inauguration speech. Because of Shido's abrupt repentance, seeds of doubt were sown amongst members of the public, and the remnants of the conspiracy were left scrambling in panic. Unfortunately, a few days later, things took a sharp turn for the worst; public support for Masayoshi Shido counterintuitively reaches an apex with people desperate for him to make a comeback. There is now no proof the Phantom Thieves tampered with his heart, as his sudden confession is considered mental instability. Furthermore, the Phantom Thieves are treated as if they never existed. Morgana deduced that something was wrong with the public's cognition, and he suggests that the party goes to Mementos to change the public's heart.
When the party explores the Depths of Mementos, they find the general public's Shadows imprisoned behind bars in the prison of regression, who praise it as the most comfortable place for them. Furthermore, the security seems to be highly systematic, contrary to what was supposed to be a Palace of the people: although the guards are all members of the public, that indicates the possibility of a central ruler behind Mementos. The Phantom Thieves were also shocked to realize that they did not genuinely reform any of their former targets; they only made them a part of the general public, and their targets, including Masayoshi Shido himself, lament their foolishness and praise the prison like the rest of the inmates.
thumb|right|250px|Holy Grail boss fight.
On the deepest level, the Phantom Thieves find the treasure of the public, a Holy Grail. In their battle against it, the Phantom Thieves were rendered helpless as they fruitlessly attack it, only for it to drain the will of the inmates, who sincerely desire for the Holy Grail to remain. These wishes from the people allow the Holy Grail to regain its health at a seemingly insurmountable capacity. After the Thieves become exhausted with the effort of attacking an immortal object, the Grail begins displaying sentience, and it becomes evident at this point that the Grail is not a mere treasure, but also the true master of Mementos who manipulates the public into advancing his "game." The Grail proceeds to eject the party back into the real world, which it fuses with Mementos. Despite it being apparent that something is wrong with the world around them, the general public does not notice the changes and continues life as if everything were normal. Shortly after, the Grail makes the entire public believe that the Phantom Thieves do not exist, leading to them getting erased from reality and exiled into the Velvet Room.
The master of the Velvet Room, Igor, was actually an impersonation by the Grail, and he deliberately engineers and manipulates public ignorance in order to make them believe that the most ridiculous lies are the truth, so he can "prove" that humanity does not deserve freedom from their indolence, and he is the sole perfect god fit to guide them. Most in-game abnormalities within the first nine months, such as the Phantom Thief bandwagon during late September and October (and the subsequent backlash), Masayoshi Shido's abnormal popularity and the events on the 23rd of December, are heavily implied to be caused by the Grail swaying public opinion.
The real Igor believes that a trickster will arise and purge the distortions, but the Grail laughed at this concept. As a result, he compromised the Velvet Room, approached the protagonist (presumably via the incident with Masayoshi Shido which started his probation) and trained him as if he were Igor, only to engineer the public to cast him into despair. Having been prepared for their first true rebellion, the Phantom Thieves scale the fused Shibuya (Qliphoth World) and defeat the Grail's Archangel Shadows, snapping the public to their senses, who begin to notice the discrepancy of the wasteland overlaid into Shibuya, initially sending them panicking.
During the final confrontation, the Phantom Thieves are overwhelmed by the true form of the Grail, Yaldabaoth, but Morgana, in rebellion, helps the public remember the Phantom Thieves, before they rally each-other into cheering for the group (especially with Yuuki Mishima’s help.) Because of the entirety of the public changing sides, Arsène gains enough power to evolve into Satanael, finishing the God of Control off with one Sinful Shell and wiping it out of existence. Since then, the behavior of the public reverts to normal, The Phantom Thieves stagnate into a neutral reception shown by the Phantom Aficionado Website, now unaffected by any external manipulators of people’s hearts.
=== Persona 5 Royal ===
Mementos is slightly different from how it is in the original game, now including strange flowers that grow all around it, seemingly representing the blossoming inner thoughts of humanity. A strange boy named Jose seems to have been instructed to study these flowers, to learn about humans and their emotions.
If the protagonist had maxed out Takuto Maruki's confidant prior to 11/18, once the new year begins, Maruki will put his grand plan to remove pain from the entire world into motion. He does this by taking control of Mementos, succeeding the Holy Grail as its master and combining the reach of Mementos with the unique abilities of his Persona in order to create an ideal reality where no one suffers from anything at all, and boundless happiness is available to everyone.
During the month of January and the beginning of February, the entire general public can be seen living their ideal lives in this new reality. NPC chatter which the protagonist hears while walking around Tokyo shows that everyone is getting exactly what they desire. For example, one student is being held back from graduating, presumably because they enjoy their high school years so much, and a worker is still going to their previous workplace despite seemingly having been transferred or fired previously.
Furthermore, despite Kasumi Yoshizawa's discovery of an unknown Palace blatantly appearing in the real world, no one around her gives it any thought, as if the public believes the odd structure has always been there.
However, Jose's studies of the flowers growing in Mementos reveal that the public may be slightly unsure of their new happiness, as if they believe it too good to be true. This may be what caused the entire new layer of Mementos to form, and its true farthest end is now the control center where Maruki surveys the cognition of the general public, continuing to actualize people's ideal realities into existence right up until February 3rd.
If the protagonist accepts any of Maruki's offers to accept his reality, either on January 9 or February 2, the entire general public, just like the Phantom Thieves themselves, will presumably be completely content with the ideal reality, accepting its new place as the true reality while remembering nothing different, nor recalling anything about the original, painful reality, because Maruki has rewritten history so that no strife or struggle has ever or could ever occur, essentially meaning the original reality never existed in the first place.
===Persona 5 Strikers===
With the creation of Jails, it has been spotted that the general masses of certain regions have become obsessed with a particular local public figure, or the Monarch, the ruler of the Jail. They manage to gain their influence by luring unassuming people into said Jail via entering a keyword in the EMMA app, which secretly doubles as a Metaverse Navigator, and have Shadows steal their desires inside, similarly to a change of heart. As such, their popularity is artificial and built on an individual basis.
In comparison to the previous incident, although the general public has been united via an obsession with a common figure, it has created apparent disorder among these communities, as some of their followers have almost gone bankrupt or went in debt, and even to the point where they start street fights with commoners.
In order to free these desires, the Phantom Thieves tackle these Jails during their Japan-wide trip and take down their rulers in the process. Affected populaces include those of Shibuya of Tokyo with its populace being affected by pop idol Alice Hiiragi, Sendai by writer Ango Natsume, Sapporo by politician Mariko Hyodo, and Okinawa towards a God, as their former ruler, Shuzo Ubukata, committed suicide. Kyoto has also had a Jail, but its Monarach never had the opportunity to steal anyone's desires as they were swiftly defeated.
The scheme behind the creation of Jails has been orchestrated by Akira Konoe as a part of "Operation Oraculi," which strives to rid the world of crime and corruption by systematizing each region, using his Jail in Osaka as means to enforce the law. His final goal is to spread the Jail system worldwide, but he is eventually stopped by the Phantom Thieves.
Aside from the Metaverse-induced incidents, the general public's changed behavior at the end of Persona 5 is followed through, which is emphasized during the confessions of the Thieves' present targets: not only do the targets now legitimately become better people, the public's reception on their actions are now a mix of negative and supportive responses, letting them live proper lives as well as preserve a community of their own.
==Quotes==
;Okumura's Arc
;Shido's Arc
;Depths of Mementos
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