I kinda need to just get this off my chest (I'm in September for what it's worth).
If I could use one word to describe this game's characters and narrative, it would be juvenile. I'm fairly used to this with other JRPGs and anime I play/watch but P5 seems to take it to another level. It honestly feels like a story written by a 12yo for 12yo's, which is probably too harsh. Basically, the whole teens vs. adults theme that runs through the game really isn't hitting when the teens in question are so naive and see the world purely in black and white.
I feel like the morality of their vigilantism is an interesting topic of discussion but whenever you as the MC or some other character questions their actions, it gets shot down immediately since you're the good guys, end of discussion. The game treats the phantom thieves as incorruptible despite the fact that fame and fortune are very clearly things they care about and some of them even have personal motivations.
Also, the people you're going after, both in palaces and mementos, are kinda just all over the board and with the palace targets specifically, they seem to always have to add in one final twist to make them laughably evil. The game also really requires you to buy into the narrative that virtually all the adults in this world are evil/corrupt/spineless/inept/ect. because thus far, these are all problems that could have easily been dealt with by the police or school faculty. On that note, the phantom thieves are EXTREMELY bad at keeping a low profile making the fact that their identities haven't become common knowledge at this point pretty ridiculous.
I'm probably being too hard on the game but the fact that it has a real word setting and is dealing with contemporary problems really make it's child-like approach to everything stand out. I'm really hoping things start to change from where I'm at. It seems like it could go in an interesting direction but I feel like I'm just setting myself up for disappointment. I'll definitely finish the game as the overall heist theme is interesting and I'm so far in but the characters and story are just not hitting for me like they did in P4.