High schoolers are the stars of Persona 5, and a lot has been written about their escapades since the game launched five years ago. Myself, I’ve written about how everyone needs a friend like Makoto, how Ann is thematically better suited to being the game’s lead, and how Joker misses out on the joys of friendship by not being treated like the total daftie he clearly is. However, much less has been written about the adults of the game, and there’s an obvious reason for that - writing about Persona 5's grown-ups can get quite uncomfortable. In Persona 6, that needs to change.
For example, Tae Takemi is one of the game's most fascinating characters. She's a back alley doctor willing to offer you cheap discounts on medicine to let her use you as a guinea pig for certain medical tests, which immediately makes her seem skeevy and underhanded. Then it turns out she was unfairly forced out of her practise, has genuine care for her patients, and noble goals to make the world a better place. She's complicated, layered, and worthy of further exploration and examination. Can ethics get in the way of proactive medical care? Are ethics designed to protect doctors rather than aid patients? What is the role of a doctor? These are all questions you could ask through Tae's lens, but at a certain point in the story, they cease to matter. Turns out Tae is attracted to schoolboys, and questions on the murky nature of ethics become less fascinating when they're being asked by an adult who is actively pursuing a relationship with a high school boy.
Tae Takemi isn’t the only character with inappropriate tastes. Ichiko Ohya is another potential love interest for Joker, despite clearly being several years his senior. She's a journalist, talented but burnt out, drowning her sorrows in the same bar each night while plugging away at the story that, one way or another, will define her career. She's like a Megan Abbott heroine, and unpicking all of the missteps of her journey to that sordid bar she spends her nights in could be brilliant, except she likes little boys so I want nothing to do with her.
Undoubtedly though, the worst one of the lot is Sadayo Kawakami. She's your teacher, and also a love interest. I shouldn't need to explain how gross that is, especially when the game begins with a teenage girl attempting suicide after having been groomed and molested by a different teacher at the same school. Persona 5 has a huge issue with giving agency to female characters, and nowhere is that more apparent than here. While Kamoshida, the gym teacher molesting his students, is accurately depicted as a predator, the power dynamics are flipped in Kawakami’s case. As a maid for hire, she’s forced into the servitude of her student, performing chores for him and allowing him to skip class in exchange for him keeping her secret.
Her story is interesting nonetheless. She isn't making enough money as a teacher, and the hours she works limit her options for a second job, leading her to become a maid for hire. Given her age and the sexist, misogynistic nature of the industry, she is getting hired less and less, and despite the humiliating nature of the job, she needs it, and feels the opportunity slipping helplessly through her fingers. I'd feel sorry for her, but then she starts dating her student so... y'know.
All three of these potentially brilliant characters are derailed for the same reason - because they want to rail Joker. The non-love interest characters in the game are fantastic, and it's a shame these three are tainted, but there isn't really a defence for dating children. Sae Niijima, the cop interrogating you and sister to fellow Phantom Thief Makoto, is a great antagonist turned eventual ally. Your guardian in the game, Sojiro Sakura, is a stoic man who bonds with you over his love for coffee and cookery, softening as the game goes on to become one of the best dads in gaming. Underneath though, he has a story to tell. He was not a great father to Futaba, and until you arrive, never expects to ever rectify his mistakes. He has failed in the past, but is able to grow and improve. He's not perfect, he's something better - he's real. Thankfully, he doesn't ruin it by trying to get into Haru's pants, so it's okay to root for him.
Persona 6 will undoubtedly keep up the Persona trend of a teenage protagonist. The metaverse is probably going to be wild, and influencers seem like the next natural step for a series concerned with media consumption, but there's no real way to know what the game will be about. All I can say right now is 'I hope the adults don't fall in love with schoolchildren in this one'. Is that too much to ask?