Maruki - Persona's Greatest Villain

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Doctor Maruki truly stands out from all the previous persona antagonists, he is neither a god, a murderer or a mentally unstable teenager, he is a normal man that only wants people to not suffer

RIP Billy Kametz man was a legend and will be missed

Maruki is one of the best examples of a dark messiah: A character who believes that the happiness of humanity is their responsibility and will even do „questionable“ actions to archive it. This description fits Maruki well. He isn‘t a bad person, he just wants to help the world but will go to the extremes to achieve it.

I know its not the topic of the video, but i love Akechi's stance on Maruki's ideology, which is basically "Cool motive, still brainwashing"

I think Maruku's Phase 2 being so much easier to fight helps emphasize how hypocritical he is as he mounts a stronger offense, only for it to fade due to how much he refuses to fight them

A line that I will always remember is from Morgana. He says that he acknowledges that many people would benefit from a world like this and sees where he's coming from even though he disagrees.

Maruki: "All the world will be happy" Joker: "How about Shido?" Maruki: "Screw him" Akechi: "THAT's the only thing I agree with you"

Rest in peace, Billy Kametz. Like a Shield made of Diamonds, you'll continue to shine on.

Something that highlights Sumire's importance to the story and Maruki, I think, is that she essentially acts as a test case for each side to prove their argument. For the majority of the game, she is solidly in Camp Maruki, abandoning her identity as Sumire to act as Kasumi. This initially proves Maruki's point, as she was trapped in despair with no hope of recovery or completing the dream she shared with her sister. However, as you progress her confidant, it's shown that that happiness is short-term and stagnant. Sumire can pretend to be Kasumi, but she can't truly replicate her sister's performance, and thus can't fulfill their dream as she is. It's only once Joker helps her face her grief and accept herself as Sumire that she begins to truly move forward. It took a lot of short-term pain, but she converted that pain into developing her gymnastics abilities and making true progress with her and her sister's dream. Maruki has a compassionate goal, but only seeks short-term relief from tragedy that requires long-term healing. Under his rule, no one can truly grow like Sumire and the Phantom Thieves were able to. The Phantom Thieves may not be able to erase the trauma people suffer, but they can at least provide a chance for those victims to pick themselves back up and continue on under their own strength. Sumire was the direct evidence for this.

Billy Billy Billy, can't you see the legacy you left behind? Rest in peace Also, Billy played villains so well It's a shame he passed on so suddenly 😔 Maruki was a favorite of mine alongside a couple other roles of his

Maruki quickly became one of my favorite Persona characters in the entire series, moreso than my other favorite character, Adachi. RIP, Billy Kametz, you knocked this role outta the park.

I feel that the hypocrisy around Rumi is that he probably felt he had to leave her; that him being there might run the risk of her reawakening her buried memories and going into a fugue state again. He convinces himself that relapsing will always happen, and he projects that onto Sumire. He's convinced that she will fall back into the same pitfalls she did the last time because otherwise he could've found a way to help Rumi recover while still being with her. Like you pointed out, his 'sacrifice' of his love is a key part of his messiah complex. I see it as he's convinced he's in the right because he suffered so much, and then the Metaverse handed him all that power like a god on high.

Just finished Persona 5 Royal. I thought Maruki is a great antagonist. Partially because his offer is very tempting. It is such an ideal world, and his intentions are good for it. But besides just struggle, Maurki's plan removes choice. Your perfect life is what he thinks is best for you, to the point of you getting mind wiped and rewritten to believe its for your best. But love his dungeon design, great boss fight, and just a great conclusion to an already great story. Worth nothing, I think his plan would fall apart eventually, as the expanding people could cause his perfect reality to fall. Trying to accommodate the rest of the world, I think would eventually stretch his mind too much, not even accounting for how exactly new children would complicate things. If you look around the world, you can see NPC's collapse from partying too much, talking about exhaustion from working too much, but they can't stop just because they are so happy doing it. I really like if you look, you can already see cracks starting to form in his perfect world. But I know its a rant all this, I really loved this game. RIP Billy kametz. You were a great voice actor and you gave a fantastic performance as Maruki

as someone that suffers from a condition that cant be cured and can leave me paralyzed for the rest of my life.. not to mention abuse from parents and supposed friends (one that SA'D me and forced me to remain friends with them by threatning me with their family's shady connections.) Maruki's character and goal was something that brought me to tears and made me agree with his character's goals... I wouldnt want anyone else to suffer like that

I saw a comment on a video a while back that basically made the argument that Maruki is the perfect Law alignment representative, and I genuinely couldn't agree more. The philosophical questions he raises like what is the purpose of suffering are scarcely discussed in the world we live in, and if it weren't for my niche religious beliefs (and you know, the lack of cognitive psience in the real world) I'd wholeheartedly champion Maruki's cause to the best of my ability. And then there's the scene after the slugfest with joker that just broke me. The way Maruki simply wants to give in to his despair after losing everything makes him feel so real as a character, and Billy Kametz's performance from the scream to "oh come on, I said I'm done" made it hit that much harder. 10000/10 character, and God bless Billy Kametz's soul

The Doc is such a phenomenal addition to P5, his palace theme is one of my favorites. Rest in Peace Billy Kametz.

Speaking as a counsellor, Maruki's journey into villainy was well portrayed even early in the game in his flaws as a counsellor. Maruki allows his own trauma, his own desires, his own feelings to command the space with his clients. He is always quick to reassure and provide relief, wanting to remove pain, where a counsellor should join the client in their pain to empower them to find sense in it. He is not able to take the truly empathic stance of seeing the pain of another and feeling it as theirs, because he internalises their pain as his own. He's clearly trying but he has not done the work on himself. So when someone who cannot tolerate pain in their clients gains absolute power what do you expect? From a counsellor's perspective, Maruki is one of my favourite depictions of a counsellor in media, because he demonstrates so well the damage one can do even while truly trying to help.

Maruki is by far one of my favorite Persona antagonists, he's a genuinely good man who is always giving out his helping hand to anyone who will willingly take it and he never forces anyone to. It's what makes him so good because he's not in it for the power or anything he's just trying to help people because they've been hurt, but his way doesn't truly help, it's just a pretty lie to cover up the pain and trauma that are still there. It's why his boss fight and everything about him make me tear up because he's just a deeply hurt man that never got over his pain all while trying to help others with theirs. The moment he finally lets it all out is so heartbreaking to me but so satisfying in the end. Billy had so many good characters he got to play, Maruki, Josuke and Ferdinand from FE 3 Houses are my all time favorites. He will be deeply missed but his legacy will never be forgotten🤍

..man, having played 13 sentals lately, ... billy is such a god damn legend, RIP you amazing ..gentle madman