“ | Sacrifices are inevitable in the path of reform. I only require that the foolish entrust themselves to their superiors. I shall guide them. | „ |
~ Shadow Shido to the Phantom Thieves |
Masayoshi Shido is the main antagonist of Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal. He served as the main antagonist of the Cruiser of Pride arc.
He is an arrogant and corrupt politician who serves as the mastermind behind most of the game's events as he seeks to become the next prime minister of Japan and gain full control over the country. His Palace is the Cruiser of Pride, a large ship sailing across a flooded Japan with only the Diet Building still standing on top of the ship, symbolizing his lack of care for anyone outside of himself and his associates as he attempts to "steer" Japan into becoming a "better" country. He is the arch-nemesis of Ren Amamiya and the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, along with his son Goro Akechi.
He is voiced by Shūichi Ikeda in Japanese, and Keith Silverstein in English, the latter of whom also voices Isshiki Ōtsutsuki. He is portrayed by Takeshi Sugawara and Tyson Ohya in the stage adaptation.
What Makes Him a Hate Sink?[]
- It is implied by Sojiro Sakura that even before his rise to power, he ruined many lives for even the pettiest of reasoning, showing how he was always despicable from the very beginning.
- Abandoned his illegitimate son Goro Akechi at a young age after raping and impregnating his mother, which led to Akechi becoming vengeful as a result.
- When he reunited with Akechi, Shido made him murder countless people, some even to blame on the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, such as Kobayakawa and Kunikazu Okumura, Haru's father.
- He even had Akechi murder Wakaba Isshiki and make it look like she committed suicide due to her own daughter Futaba, which led to her depression and even becoming suicidal.
- Is willing to murder anyone, even his subordinates, to keep his positive image as a good man and to become the next Prime Minister of Japan.
- Falsely accusing the protagonist of assault when he tries to stop Shido from raping a woman.
- Even though Akechi was vital to his plans, he is only saw him as a pawn he needed to be disposed of eventually.
- Stole Wakaba and Takuto Maruki's research to learn more about cognitive science, most likely to abuse it.
- He is a hypocrite as he states that Japan is full of corrupt and selfish men, when he may be one of if not the worst of them all.
- Through the Antisocial Force, he has connections to other awful people, which makes him indirectly responsible for almost all the problems the Phantom Thieves face in the game, and even some of them in Strikers:
- Kobayakwa, who would cover up Suguru Kamoshida's abuses on Shujin Academy students to maintain the school's reputation. This would enable him to commit his horrible deeds such as breaking Ryuji Sakamoto's leg and raping Shiho Suzui, driving her to suicide.
- Ichiryusai Madarame, who would abuse Yusuke Kitagawa and his pupils to steal their art to the point one of them committed suicide, even let Yusuke's mother die just to take Sayuri for himself.
- Junya Kaneshiro, who would blackmail students from Shujin Academy into smuggling drugs. He also attempted to rape Makoto Niijima and threaten to turn her and her sister Sae into sex slaves.
- The SIU Director, who would rig the mental shutdown cases in Shido's favor and constantly put pressure on Sae to capture the Phantom Thieves. This leads to her descent into villainy and straining her relationship with her sister.
- Jyun Owada, who would run over Aoi Hasegawa while drunk and framing his secretary for it and also prevented her husband Zenkichi Hasegawa for investigating her death by having them removed from the case and threatening to kill his daughter Akane if he continues. This would ultimately destroy their relationship and later caused Akane to be turned into a Monarch by Akira Konoe and EMMA.
- Wants to become the Prime Minister of Japan so he can rule it with an iron fist, and if his dialogue from the Will Seeds of his Palace, and even his wording to Joker during their showdown are any indication, he also intends to conquer the world as well.
- When confronted by the Phantom Thieves and asked about the deaths of Wakaba and Okumura, he states that he doesn't even know what they're talking about and compares them to ants to be crushed.
- When the Phantom Thieves defeat his Shadow, in one final act of spite, his real-world version downs some lethal medicine to temporarily kill himself in order to shut down his Palace and prevent himself from having a change of heart.
- While he does have a change of heart, it's because of the Phantom Thieves stealing his Treasure, which acts similar to brainwashing, so this does not have any effect on his status as a Hate Sink.
- He commits a lot of stupid acts that show he's nothing more than an idiot, and it's honestly only because of Yaldabaoth and Akechi that he ever made it as far as he did:
- His unnecessary cruelty and pettiness (like what he did to Futaba and her mother) gets easily traced back to him.
- He lets people go even if they become a threat to him later on, like Maruki after he stole his research. He even failed to recognize Ren twice: the first was when the Phantom Thieves were celebrating his victory over Kamoshida, and the second was after he faked his death, both of which was where he was standing right in front of him. This would ultimately lead to his downfall, as Ren would become the leader of the thieves and the one responsible for bringing down Shido.
- He disposes of his most valuable pawns, which not only gives the Phantom Thieves more leads on him but also leaves him with less capable ones. His remaining minions didn't even check to see if Ren was even dead after his interrogation.
- He overall commits self-destructive acts without zero restraint or long-term planning, ruining whatever smart decisions he made out of sheer ignorance.
- He and his actions are taken seriously with not a single comedic moment.
Trivia[]
- Because Yaldabaoth was adapted out in Stage Play Adaptation, he is the final (& main) antagonist the Phantom Thieves of Hearts have faced.
External Links[]
- Masayoshi Shido on the Pure Evil Wiki
- Masayoshi Shido on the Villains Wiki
- Masayoshi Shido on the Megami Tensei Wiki
- Masayoshi Shido on the Pathetic Pinhead Wiki
[]
Megami Tensei Hate Sinks | ||
Shin Megami Tensei Persona
Persona 4 Persona 5 |