Persona 5 Royal: Joker x Kasumi Is Basically Canon - And Here's The Proof (2024)

*Note that this article contains MAJOR spoilers forPersona 5 Royal.*

Persona 5 Royalsaw the introduction of a brand new character and Phantom Thief - Kasumi Yoshizawa. An energetic and talented first-year, the gymnast and honor studentquickly befriends Joker. As the story goes on and her tragic backstory is revealed, Joker helps the young girl to embrace her true identity as Sumire and eventually join the Phantom Thieves, adopting the code name "Violet."

Since the game's release, receptiontowards the new character has been overwhelmingly positive, with many fans even going so far as to hypothesis that she is Joker's canon love interest inPersona 5 Royal. Compared toPersona 5, which left Joker's romantic affections pretty vague to allow players to romance any female character, many have pointed out how Joker andSumire's interactionsaresignificantly more plentiful and genuine (sans their copout goodbye in the game's new True Ending), especially when compared to other characters.

After all, Joker only gets two Showtime attacks; and his gorgeous attack withSumire features some pretty affectionate moments between the two. Her Phantom Thief outfit even features the same black and red colors as Joker's! It's as if Atlus is trying to say their relationship is canon.

One fan on Reddit, who has analyzed each of Violet's three personas,has pointed out how each ofher personas correlates with Sumire's journey throughoutPersona 5 Royal- but has also made an interesting connection between her relationship with Joker that essentially confirmsthat the romantic undertones that fans have picked up on are, in fact, canon.

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Cendrillon

First up, there's Cendrillon. As many people could probably guess from her appearance, "Cendrillon" isa reference towards the popular fairy tale Cinderella (it's the French translation of her name). Her persona has blonde hair and a blue dress,signifying that's she's specifically taken on the appearance of Cinderella at the Prince's ball.

In the context of the fairy tale, once Cinderellaarrives at the ball,all eyes are on her. She appears to the guests as a beautiful and perfect princess, and even attracts theattention(and affection) of Prince Charming. Despite her joy and success, everything about her appearance and identity is a lie. However, this isthe exact persona Cinderella believes she needs to inhabit in order to be accepted into society.

When Violet first awakens to Cendrillon, she's still living the lie as "Kasumi," mirroring Cinderella's experience at the ball.She's fully taken on Kasumi's identity, believing that she needs to become her dead sister in order to thrive, become successful, and achieve her gymnastics dreams. Despite her disingenuous identity, she is overall happy shedding her true name.

Notably, it is at the ball where Cinderella first meets and falls in love with Prince Charming. However, when the clock strikes midnight, she runs away because her insecurities have blinded her to the idea of anyone falling in love with the "real" her. Similarly, once Maruki reveals that "Kasumi's" real identity, Sumire flees from Joker, scared that he won't accept her for who she really is.

Vanadis

Next up is Violet's second persona, Vanadis. Sumire awakens to this persona after rejoining Joker and deciding toaccept her true identity. While there's less to say about Vanadis and her connection to Sumire's Cinderella metaphor, there are still some interesting connections here: Vanadids is an alternate name for Freyja, the goddess of love, beauty, and fertility. Notably, Freyja is the younger twin sister of the godFreyjr.

This directly mirrors Sumire and Kasumi's relationship, as Sumire was the younger twin sister to Kasumi. However, Sumire can only awaken to this persona once she'sshed Kasumi's fake identity and accepted her own.

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Ella

Finally, there's Ella - aka, the "Ella" of Cinderella. Except now, she's not trying to be a fake princess like the "Cendrillon" at the ball. Ella is no longer concerned with what society thinks of her, has embraced her status and background, and has found the courage to love herself. Her Prince, who she once feared wouldn't love her after learning her true identity, still loves her too, even proposing marriage and making her his princess.

At this point in the story, Sumire has finally embraced who she really is, even realizing that Kasumi was not always this perfect, infallible being that the former had conjured in her mind. She has decided to reject Maruki's perfect reality, contentwith accepting her shortcomings andworking towards her dreams on her own merit. She continues to thank Joker for helping her realize who she truly was, andadmitsthere was no way she'd ever have felt comfortable in her old identity without his guidance and support.

In a nutshell: Cinderella is a story about a woman who met a prince, fell in love with him, and became Ella. Kasumi met Joker, fell in love with him, and became Sumire. The parallels areclearly obvious. (And I haven't even mentioned how Ella's design is literally a woman wearing aweddingdress!)

While there's still no official word from Atlus regarding Joker's true affections, thisanalysis of Sumire'sofficialpersonas is pretty great evidence justifying the canon relationship between Joker and Violet.

Persona 5 Royalis available now, exclusively for the PlayStation 4.

Source: Reddit

NEXT:Persona 5 Royal: Kasumi's Backstory Was Teased At the Very Beginning of the Game