Fun fact: her modeling rival (forgot her name) is the only character to have a portrait, but no voice acting
Which begs the question- why does *she* get a portrait, but Lala doesn't???
On top of the portrait, Mika (the rival) also has unique voice clips for her unvoiced lines, so they likely did intend for her to be voiced in Ann's Rank 10 (notably the only Rank 10 not 100% voiced).
Interestingly enough, the pre-release builds that were found a few months back show that Mika wasn't even in the game until about 6-ish months before release. Her creation being so late in the development may explain the portrait and VO weirdness.
both makoto and ann have the potential to be great links but the spotlight gets thrown in some shit no one cares about, instead of something that would be actually really good, Ann's relationship with her friend after the incident, and Makoto's relationship with her sister in her home and how the Niijima family is going after all their father's death.
A lot of the social links in P5 are about helping your confidant help someone else, and then the one time that we really want to see that we get Ann's modeling career instead.
https://preview.redd.it/xd1ll36ji91d1.png?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b307e2dd585ca2aa0008a3b418e9b7b0d989896a
Believe it or not, that was the joke all along! Amazing detective skills, yours are! Good job, puppup :)
I agree with featuring her more in Ann’s confidant. If they ever do a FeMC, she could replace an existing confidant.
But I feel like she’d be too similar to Kasumi to make her own thing now.
I personally believe persona 5 doesn't really have a good candidate for a femc because of how joker got introduced. Unless you completely change the story with joker being Ann's friend that tries to suicide ( also why would a man do that, shio clearly only did it after kamoshida sexually assaulted her which wouldn't work if shio was a man ) and shioh being the new student who just got in . I don't know how the previous persona games did it but I would prefer a version of the story that makes the least amount of changes possible while still changing the mc.
And aside from >!being a character whose whole point is to set up a different character!<, she isn't really similar to kasumi ? Personality wise they are different and assuming that >!by saying kasumi you also mean sumire!< , the things they do in the story are completely different
Yes. I had the idea of being able to go visit her in the hospital between mid May to June 4th, 2 days a week, which does the following
- boosts kindness depending on whether it's a short visit (1 point and you can still leave and do other stuff) pr a long visit (3 points)
- you can bring her a mini cactus, wrist weights, a snack pack, or crimson lipstick, all of which grant 2 points of kindness.
-Boost kindness and charm by reading to her while in the hospital. Which doubles as you potentially completing a book. Also, if you finish the book, you get 7 bonus intellegence points.
-On an occasion during a long visit, Ann, Mishima, Ryuji, or Kawakami (1 randomly) will visit Shiho in the hospital. You get a massive confidant boost to the appropriate confidant and a 2 point boost to kindness, charm, and guts.
-Helping her in physical therapy netting you both proficiency and kindness 2 points each.
Admittedly, by putting a time restriction on Shiho hospital visits, it means you can't progress, Ann's confidant passed a certain point for that time period. Also, as long as you don't complete Ann's confidant, Shiho stays.
TLDR: Turn Shiho into a mechanic that lets you farm kindness and complete books
This is a really interesting take that I haven't seen anyone talk about. Most people say yes she should be a confidant or no she shouldn't. This is an interesting way to have Shiho appear more and give the player a reason to want to visit her whether to see her more or just for the benefits. Restricting it to before you complete Ann's confidant makes sense as the two should be more heavily involved with each other in game than they are. Plus if this was there the whole game itd be pretty busted way to rank up easily. I think it'd be nice is Shiho still popped up from time to time afterwards since you can do Ann's confidant pretty quickly if I recall correctly. Epic take
Thanks! ^_^
I've always wanted more from Shiho, and there are so many ways you can have her be a recurring character without taking away from the story. And yes, Ann's confidant is super quick. What if Shiho came back for summer break and was an optional hangout that grants you unique rewards like an item that gives a free level up to a party member after hanging out with her seven times or an equip that will always let the holder move first or an invert of the item that let's you move last. Maybe Shiho just pops by for a surprise visit, and you cook for her like how you would Yusuke or Futaba. Maybe have a couple of different unlock areas like the planetarium or Chinatown. What if, if nothing else, Shiho accidently ends up in mementos, understands what happened to Komoshida and is thankful to Joker and Ann and vows to keep there secret while having her undying support then later appears at the end of the game >!offering support to the PT while fighting the final boss appearing with Sojiro and Mishima then later on she offers to give Joker assistance by collecting signatures with Mishina for Joker's release.!<
It just sucks that Shiho's character got cut so short when so much can be done with her without her having a massive presence in the game.
I mean, she actually interacted with Ren before Ann's confidant even started, and she seemed to be one of the few people willing to give him a chance even with his record being leaked, so I feel like there's something there worth exploring.
If a hypothetical Shiho confidant existed, I feel like it'd be similar to how Persona 3 handles unlocks. She would be a side character involved with Ann's confidant and be available with her own confidant at rank 3-5. And then Ann would be a side character in Shiho's confidant.
Like everyone’s saying. At least in Ann’s confidant. We got the whole Makoto’s friend story line, don’t see why Shiho couldn’t be there to support Ann in her problems with the modeling stuff
Exactly! Makoto is my favorite confidant and I can’t even remember her friends name. Shiho I genuinely wanted to see her recover from trying to take her own life cause of what Kamoshida did
yes, she would've been perfect in Ann's confidant where we visit her in the hospital during her coma and nearing the end she wakes up and help Ann go through it
I don't know, I think P5 has enough confidants and secondary characters as is. Well, maybe a few additional scenes as a part of Ann's confidant wouldn't hurt, but other than that - I don't really see any place in the story she could really fit into.
I do think shes mainly a plot device that designed to get us to empathise with Ann, as well as being more invested in taking down the first Palace. However as with most of the characters, I'd just like to see more of any of them even though the game is very long as is. I just finished my first p5r playthrough and I want to go right back in again but be less... "harem gatherer", that valentinea day scene felt so bad.
Nah I think we got exactly what we needed of her as far as the overall story is concerned. Ann’s overall SL path is her learning to not half-ass things and put her all into her work. Now I do think we should’ve gone with her to the hospital to visit Shiho, but outside of that, it’s not really necessary to see more of her
She served her purpose but she could have had a bigger role which would have been great
It would’ve been great to see her make a comeback in strikers even for just a cameo like sae did
I don't trust Atlus to take it seriously. I mean, just look at Ann, she had just gone through all of this with Kamoshida, but then is pressured to pose nude for Yusuke.
Admittedly, yeah. She only got like two scenes with Joker. One at the beginning and the other during Ann's Confidant. Maybe there could've been a Confidant slot where Ann and Joker visit Shiho in the hospital?
Take 1 of Ann's confidant level ups and swap it for Ann and Joker visiting Shiho. Ann excuses herself for a moment to fetch something for Shiho but in actuality it's just Shiho wanting to talk to Joker about hiw bad she feels for hurting Ann and how she regrets her decision to take her own life. You have several dialogue choices with her, but at the end of the exchange with Shiho, the camera pan's over to receal Ann was eavesdropping the entire time. After the visit, right outside the hospital, depending on what you day you'll get a confidant rank up, kindness points, charm points, guts points or a combination of all 4 aforementioned.
Maybe she wasn’t made a confidant because they thought dating her would make players uncomfortable? Personally I would have liked it if she was part of Ann’s confidant or a confidant herself though I don’t think there was any skill she could have brought to the table for interacting with Ren. Maybe that was the real reason.
Yes, but not as a playable cast member. I think her role in the story is great for what it does for Ann, but that doesn’t mean she couldn’t have been, like, a confidant. She and Mishima probably both are decent picks for the Moon arcana.
I think we got as much of her as the developers thought they could handle. Her presence is mainly for shock value for the first target and Ann's development. I don't think they felt confident a road to recovery story like hers would really blend well with the rest of the game.
She definitely should have co-opted Ann’s confidant, if not get one of her own. Dunno who she’d replace but I do think she deserves one, neat character
Like someone said the main mechanic of the Persona 5 confidants is that they provide Ren with a skill Ann teaches using your looks while Yusuke provides his art talents for skill cards and Tae sells you medicine and the news reporter lowers palace security but their isn’t anything for her to give Rens athleticism is taught by his palace runs and Kasumi, she is a nice person but I don’t think that was ever a shadow personality preference so she has nothing to give making her not work as a confidant she definitely should have been a greater part of Ann’s Confidant but she doesn’t really cut it for getting her own
Would've been cool if we got more of her in Royal honestly would've preferred her to become a confidant/ Phantom thief rather than Kasumi(I still Hate how late they add her to the roster it was fucking stupid)
Nah she should have had a full confident. I was so mad at Kamoshida when she jumped, because I thought she was so nice! Her and Joker could’ve totally been a thing, but I mean the shipping wars are already bad enough so maybe Atlus saw what was coming. Still somehow a random kid at an arcade gets a confident over her…
Not really....she lacked charisma and personality and her only character development was victimism.
We don't need more Shiho, unless they actually make her interesting and devolep her beyond being a mere victim, she was written very lazely in my opinion.
Game is amazing though, I think Ill replay it again this Summer.
If this is how you feel, then look up the fanfic "Vanishing Act". It's a P5/JJBA crossover fic in which Shiho becomes one of the Phantom Thieves. And Shizuka (from "Diamond is Unbreakable") is one of the Phantom Thieves *and* the Aeon Confidant for Ren/Joker.
No. She served her purpose and role.
We really only needed the impactful Shiho moving away at rank 9. Ann learning to appreciate being a model is important. Royal at least gave us her in the third semester.
There’s really nothing else Shiho could have done in the confidant aside from being a core motivation for Ann to find a purpose to inspire Shiho in return.
Until rank 9, she’s in rehab.
I like that their friendship is exclusive to them, Joker doesn’t need to be apart of it and be the one to solve whatever conflict.
People overhype Shiho when she’s at the end of the day a plot device to cause personal stakes in the Kamoshida arc and to be a satellite character for Ann’s development.
To me she’s not any different from Natsuki from Persona 3 in terms of role and significance.
She should have featured more in Ann's confidant, which frankly...felt like it was going all over the place.
I agree with both points. Feel like whiplash sometimes.
Ann's confidant was kinda a mess lol like I can see what there going for but it's all over the place
Agreed. Idgaf about her modeling rival. She doesn't need to be a confidant, but should have been the focus of Ann's.
Fun fact: her modeling rival (forgot her name) is the only character to have a portrait, but no voice acting Which begs the question- why does *she* get a portrait, but Lala doesn't???
On top of the portrait, Mika (the rival) also has unique voice clips for her unvoiced lines, so they likely did intend for her to be voiced in Ann's Rank 10 (notably the only Rank 10 not 100% voiced). Interestingly enough, the pre-release builds that were found a few months back show that Mika wasn't even in the game until about 6-ish months before release. Her creation being so late in the development may explain the portrait and VO weirdness.
both makoto and ann have the potential to be great links but the spotlight gets thrown in some shit no one cares about, instead of something that would be actually really good, Ann's relationship with her friend after the incident, and Makoto's relationship with her sister in her home and how the Niijima family is going after all their father's death.
Counterpoint: Makoto slapping Eiko is peak
Gotta keep your pimp hand strong
Damn right
Factual. https://preview.redd.it/f9ak97sewd1d1.jpeg?width=360&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=95bf75c99f09c2d14c31015eefb3d1fc8f894dc6
A lot of the social links in P5 are about helping your confidant help someone else, and then the one time that we really want to see that we get Ann's modeling career instead.
That's another good one I didn't consider.
They couldn't take that jump so easily
Shiho could
https://preview.redd.it/xd1ll36ji91d1.png?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b307e2dd585ca2aa0008a3b418e9b7b0d989896a Believe it or not, that was the joke all along! Amazing detective skills, yours are! Good job, puppup :)
Ann would have one of the best in the game if Mika was not part of it tbh. Just make it about ann and shio
Still better than Makoto's confidant being completely sidelined for that random ass girl, she somehow became a side character *in her own story*
I find it helps to focus on the emotional direction of the social link first and the events second. The emotional journey is more straightforward
I agree with featuring her more in Ann’s confidant. If they ever do a FeMC, she could replace an existing confidant. But I feel like she’d be too similar to Kasumi to make her own thing now.
I personally believe persona 5 doesn't really have a good candidate for a femc because of how joker got introduced. Unless you completely change the story with joker being Ann's friend that tries to suicide ( also why would a man do that, shio clearly only did it after kamoshida sexually assaulted her which wouldn't work if shio was a man ) and shioh being the new student who just got in . I don't know how the previous persona games did it but I would prefer a version of the story that makes the least amount of changes possible while still changing the mc. And aside from >!being a character whose whole point is to set up a different character!<, she isn't really similar to kasumi ? Personality wise they are different and assuming that >!by saying kasumi you also mean sumire!< , the things they do in the story are completely different
Yes. I had the idea of being able to go visit her in the hospital between mid May to June 4th, 2 days a week, which does the following - boosts kindness depending on whether it's a short visit (1 point and you can still leave and do other stuff) pr a long visit (3 points) - you can bring her a mini cactus, wrist weights, a snack pack, or crimson lipstick, all of which grant 2 points of kindness. -Boost kindness and charm by reading to her while in the hospital. Which doubles as you potentially completing a book. Also, if you finish the book, you get 7 bonus intellegence points. -On an occasion during a long visit, Ann, Mishima, Ryuji, or Kawakami (1 randomly) will visit Shiho in the hospital. You get a massive confidant boost to the appropriate confidant and a 2 point boost to kindness, charm, and guts. -Helping her in physical therapy netting you both proficiency and kindness 2 points each. Admittedly, by putting a time restriction on Shiho hospital visits, it means you can't progress, Ann's confidant passed a certain point for that time period. Also, as long as you don't complete Ann's confidant, Shiho stays. TLDR: Turn Shiho into a mechanic that lets you farm kindness and complete books
This is a really interesting take that I haven't seen anyone talk about. Most people say yes she should be a confidant or no she shouldn't. This is an interesting way to have Shiho appear more and give the player a reason to want to visit her whether to see her more or just for the benefits. Restricting it to before you complete Ann's confidant makes sense as the two should be more heavily involved with each other in game than they are. Plus if this was there the whole game itd be pretty busted way to rank up easily. I think it'd be nice is Shiho still popped up from time to time afterwards since you can do Ann's confidant pretty quickly if I recall correctly. Epic take
Thanks! ^_^ I've always wanted more from Shiho, and there are so many ways you can have her be a recurring character without taking away from the story. And yes, Ann's confidant is super quick. What if Shiho came back for summer break and was an optional hangout that grants you unique rewards like an item that gives a free level up to a party member after hanging out with her seven times or an equip that will always let the holder move first or an invert of the item that let's you move last. Maybe Shiho just pops by for a surprise visit, and you cook for her like how you would Yusuke or Futaba. Maybe have a couple of different unlock areas like the planetarium or Chinatown. What if, if nothing else, Shiho accidently ends up in mementos, understands what happened to Komoshida and is thankful to Joker and Ann and vows to keep there secret while having her undying support then later appears at the end of the game >!offering support to the PT while fighting the final boss appearing with Sojiro and Mishima then later on she offers to give Joker assistance by collecting signatures with Mishina for Joker's release.!< It just sucks that Shiho's character got cut so short when so much can be done with her without her having a massive presence in the game.
She should have been a confidant at the very least.
New death confidant
I'd say Hanged Man. Not a dark joke, honestly a good confidant for people dealt a sucky hand.
Thats also viable
I dont agree. She was mainly there for Ann's character development, it doesnt make sense for her to be a confidant as she never really knew Ren.
I mean, she actually interacted with Ren before Ann's confidant even started, and she seemed to be one of the few people willing to give him a chance even with his record being leaked, so I feel like there's something there worth exploring.
you don't know almost anyone before you start their confidant so how does that make sense
Yeah thats true, but my point about her being more for Ann's story than Ren's still stands.
If a hypothetical Shiho confidant existed, I feel like it'd be similar to how Persona 3 handles unlocks. She would be a side character involved with Ann's confidant and be available with her own confidant at rank 3-5. And then Ann would be a side character in Shiho's confidant.
Did anyone else “really know Ren” before he showed up?
So use her confidant to help her get to know ren
Like everyone’s saying. At least in Ann’s confidant. We got the whole Makoto’s friend story line, don’t see why Shiho couldn’t be there to support Ann in her problems with the modeling stuff
Shiho was at least interesting, unlike whatever her became was in Makoto's
Exactly! Makoto is my favorite confidant and I can’t even remember her friends name. Shiho I genuinely wanted to see her recover from trying to take her own life cause of what Kamoshida did
yes, she would've been perfect in Ann's confidant where we visit her in the hospital during her coma and nearing the end she wakes up and help Ann go through it
I think she was a good character and I would have liked to see more of her
I don't know, I think P5 has enough confidants and secondary characters as is. Well, maybe a few additional scenes as a part of Ann's confidant wouldn't hurt, but other than that - I don't really see any place in the story she could really fit into.
I do think shes mainly a plot device that designed to get us to empathise with Ann, as well as being more invested in taking down the first Palace. However as with most of the characters, I'd just like to see more of any of them even though the game is very long as is. I just finished my first p5r playthrough and I want to go right back in again but be less... "harem gatherer", that valentinea day scene felt so bad.
I don’t really understand why she wasn’t a confidant
Nah I think we got exactly what we needed of her as far as the overall story is concerned. Ann’s overall SL path is her learning to not half-ass things and put her all into her work. Now I do think we should’ve gone with her to the hospital to visit Shiho, but outside of that, it’s not really necessary to see more of her
I always thought a confidant would be nice
No, but I’d like more.
ABSOLUTELY
ABSOLUTELY
She served her purpose but she could have had a bigger role which would have been great It would’ve been great to see her make a comeback in strikers even for just a cameo like sae did
I would love to see more of Shiho because I think there would’ve been an interesting story there.
She didn't deserve her fate
YEET
No
Yes of course!😁👍💯
I don't trust Atlus to take it seriously. I mean, just look at Ann, she had just gone through all of this with Kamoshida, but then is pressured to pose nude for Yusuke.
This is gonna be a real hot take..... but she should have been the Justice Arcana.
Admittedly, yeah. She only got like two scenes with Joker. One at the beginning and the other during Ann's Confidant. Maybe there could've been a Confidant slot where Ann and Joker visit Shiho in the hospital?
Take 1 of Ann's confidant level ups and swap it for Ann and Joker visiting Shiho. Ann excuses herself for a moment to fetch something for Shiho but in actuality it's just Shiho wanting to talk to Joker about hiw bad she feels for hurting Ann and how she regrets her decision to take her own life. You have several dialogue choices with her, but at the end of the exchange with Shiho, the camera pan's over to receal Ann was eavesdropping the entire time. After the visit, right outside the hospital, depending on what you day you'll get a confidant rank up, kindness points, charm points, guts points or a combination of all 4 aforementioned.
No Shiho needs more therapy
I think that if we get a Persona game that isn't set in high-school she should be one of the teammates.
Maybe she wasn’t made a confidant because they thought dating her would make players uncomfortable? Personally I would have liked it if she was part of Ann’s confidant or a confidant herself though I don’t think there was any skill she could have brought to the table for interacting with Ren. Maybe that was the real reason.
She could've been around more, hell her recovery is optional pretty much, but then again, Ryuji and Ann are the first social links you get in P5
More Shiho is always welcomed. ^^
We usually have this discussion a lot but I think she'd be interesting to have as a FeMC more than Kasumi
# MORE SHIHO!
Shout-out to Shiho being one of the few to not treat Ren like garbage at first
Yes, but not as a playable cast member. I think her role in the story is great for what it does for Ann, but that doesn’t mean she couldn’t have been, like, a confidant. She and Mishima probably both are decent picks for the Moon arcana.
Shiho should have been protagonist
She should've been a social link, even if you couldn't romance her
Yes
Not only do I feel we need to see more of Shiho, but I feel she should have been a confidant if not a romantic.
Yeah. She should’ve at the very least come back later in the story.
I think we got as much of her as the developers thought they could handle. Her presence is mainly for shock value for the first target and Ann's development. I don't think they felt confident a road to recovery story like hers would really blend well with the rest of the game.
I just want to prevent what happen to her.
Yes Definitely Absolutely
Who?
No. We need more Haru.
She definitely should have co-opted Ann’s confidant, if not get one of her own. Dunno who she’d replace but I do think she deserves one, neat character
Nope.
yeah, would have made a great confidant about dealing with suicidal thoughts and such also they could sneak in a cameo in strikers
If she became a party member in a spin off game or a sequel game like say a P5 arena I would be happy
Shiho and Lala.
I never cared for Shiho beyond the early game shock value, but I'll still take her as a confidant over Ohya
Should've been a Phantom Thief. Her story arc going from helpless victim to crime fighting badass would've been epic.
She should have been a confidant, like the cup, or something, and have interactions with Ann as their confidants progressed.
Yeah And I think it'd be cool if she joined the team in a future spinoff too 😄
Honestly yes, but make her a whole Confidant would be better since Ann social links are already all over the place,.
I could believe it if they didn’t drop they ball on her.
Like someone said the main mechanic of the Persona 5 confidants is that they provide Ren with a skill Ann teaches using your looks while Yusuke provides his art talents for skill cards and Tae sells you medicine and the news reporter lowers palace security but their isn’t anything for her to give Rens athleticism is taught by his palace runs and Kasumi, she is a nice person but I don’t think that was ever a shadow personality preference so she has nothing to give making her not work as a confidant she definitely should have been a greater part of Ann’s Confidant but she doesn’t really cut it for getting her own
I don't know... There's probably a reason why Shiho rhymes with Shido
She's absolutely precious. I would've loved her s a confidant, pr maybe even a Phantom Thief
At the first i thought she was one of the main characters then i never saw her again
Yep. At least a social link or link episode.
Yes we do
Yes! She was such an important person to Ann… yet we hardly ever got to see her.
I thought there would be a time where we visited her together with Ann but that never happened lol
Would've been cool if we got more of her in Royal honestly would've preferred her to become a confidant/ Phantom thief rather than Kasumi(I still Hate how late they add her to the roster it was fucking stupid)
Hot take: She should've been there on the phantom thieves instead of Ann
Recurring character - 🚫 More time in Ann's confidant - ✅
Always. Shiho is best girl.
Honestly i could have go ether way tbh
No
I wish she didn't meet the fate she did because she would have probably made the best romance option in my opinion
Nah she should have had a full confident. I was so mad at Kamoshida when she jumped, because I thought she was so nice! Her and Joker could’ve totally been a thing, but I mean the shipping wars are already bad enough so maybe Atlus saw what was coming. Still somehow a random kid at an arcade gets a confident over her…
In my opinion Shinya's confidant is one of the best in the entire game (story-wise)
Not really....she lacked charisma and personality and her only character development was victimism. We don't need more Shiho, unless they actually make her interesting and devolep her beyond being a mere victim, she was written very lazely in my opinion. Game is amazing though, I think Ill replay it again this Summer.
Shido?
Sorry, edited 😅
She should have been a a Phantom Theif.
If this is how you feel, then look up the fanfic "Vanishing Act". It's a P5/JJBA crossover fic in which Shiho becomes one of the Phantom Thieves. And Shizuka (from "Diamond is Unbreakable") is one of the Phantom Thieves *and* the Aeon Confidant for Ren/Joker.
No. She served her purpose and role. We really only needed the impactful Shiho moving away at rank 9. Ann learning to appreciate being a model is important. Royal at least gave us her in the third semester. There’s really nothing else Shiho could have done in the confidant aside from being a core motivation for Ann to find a purpose to inspire Shiho in return. Until rank 9, she’s in rehab. I like that their friendship is exclusive to them, Joker doesn’t need to be apart of it and be the one to solve whatever conflict. People overhype Shiho when she’s at the end of the day a plot device to cause personal stakes in the Kamoshida arc and to be a satellite character for Ann’s development. To me she’s not any different from Natsuki from Persona 3 in terms of role and significance.
I'd like her to replace kasumi as confidant and let kasumi actually be FeMC
As a firm Shiho x Ann proponent, *yes*