The Persona franchise has had some highly successful titles since its inception, and Persona 5 Royal was the latest feather in the cap of game developer Atlus, garnering glowing reviews and massive fandom with its immersive plot and gameplay. With such a remarkably positive track record, it can be difficult for developers to pinpoint areas of improvement for future titles and spinoffs, which tells a story of just how well-crafted the JRPG title was. Persona 5 Royal introduced some exciting new characters to the Persona franchise for gamers to interact with, and despite a fantastically-crafted plot, Atlus may have spent too little screen time exploring a few of these characters like Yoshizawa and Kaneshiro.
Persona 5 Royal is a heavy game in terms of storyline, and it was understandably a tall task for Atlus to properly flesh out the stories of each character in the game. However, some omissions are hard to ignore, and in Kaneshiro's case, the character got very little screen time. In the gaming world as we understand it, final bosses have that distinction of being ultimate antagonists due to their power relative to other characters in the game, and gamers often spend an unhealthy number of hours trying to conquer these characters. Persona 5 Royal encountered a common problem of power scaling seen in multiple-boss games like Elden Ring, where players can defeat some bosses in less than 10 minutes while others can take up to three hours to get by. Unfortunately, Kaneshiro was a victim of this conundrum, and his character was intriguing enough to command more minutes on the big screen.
Kaneshiro's Persona 5 Background
Kaneshiro is obsessed with material possession, largely owing to his poor upbringing. His obsession with wealth drives his villainy, playing the role of a loan shark and taking advantage of other characters in Persona 5 Royal through Ponzi schemes. Kaneshiro's scams target the younger population, as he believes they are particularly gullible. Kaneshiro is remarkably unabashed about his criminal affiliations thanks to his near-immunity from the police, unlike other villains like Ichiryusai Madarame, who make conscious efforts to disguise their illegal activities.
The backstory on Kaneshiro commands the interest of crime-loving gamers, as his aesthetic still holds a strong allure, evidenced by Mafia bosses in franchises like Saints Row. In Persona 5, Kaneshiro played a somewhat relegated role, with players focused on defeating his minion called Piggytron. Kaneshiro only appeared to engage in the battle once, when he geared up for an offensive atop the giant robot pig after the player's party damaged Piggytron to a certain level.
Kaneshiro's Role Expansion in Persona 5 Royal Not Enough
The Persona franchise is famous for its time-consuming dungeons, and Persona 5 Royal continued the trend with each palace posing unique challenges for gamers to overcome. Similarly to other palaces in the game, traversing through Kaneshiro's Bank Palace proved difficult, as players combined their combat skills with problem-solving to advance through the dungeon. Kaneshiro notably lacked the gimmicks Persona gamers are accustomed to seeing in boss fights. While the good old "get down to business" approach may have been a nice change of pace to some, on the flip side, Kaneshiro felt lacking in substance compared to some of the other Palace Rulers in Persona 5 Royal.
Kaneshiro's boss fight in Persona 5 Royal contrasted with the combat in Persona 5, electing to begin the battle inside Piggytron in Persona 5 Royal instead of starting with himself. However, Persona 5 Royal maintained some similarities to Persona 5, as Shadow Kaneshiro climbed out of the giant pig robot after it sustained damage to a particular level, spinning the machinery before ditching it to engage players in direct combat. This slight detail was a much-appreciated change from Persona 5, where it felt like Piggytron was the main boss and Kaneshiro an annoying add-on package.
However, in classical mob boss fashion, Kaneshiro doesn't like to get his hands dirty and instead pays two guards to fight on his behalf. Eventually, during the battle, Shadow Kaneshiro runs out of money and his cronies abandon him to face his fate. Players quickly discover that Kaneshiro is a distinctly ordinary antagonist at this juncture, doing nothing to protect himself from the unrelenting barrage of attacks, electing to spend his turns being remorseful for his actions. After winning the boss fight, the problem with Kaneshiro's character is on display - he lacks the substance expected from a mafia boss.
Having spent a lot of time in the buildup to the boss fight navigating through the Bank Palace using PIN Codes, Persona 5 Royal has almost the same issue its predecessor did with Kaneshiro - the aloof nature of his character harms the overall experience. Kaneshiro - whether as himself or Shadow Kaneshiro in Persona 5 Royal - has limited on-screen appearances where he affects the game. Asides from a single attack where he tries to put members of the player's party to sleep, Shadow Kaneshiro doesn't seem to have any ability.
Persona 5 Royal may have given him slightly more screen time than Persona 5, but it is clear Kaneshiro has not presented the personality that made him the crime boss that he is in-game to players. Given the nature of his character as a mafia boss, although it is necessary to maintain originality, it would have been expected for the boss to have a bit more pizzazz about himself. More screen time for the con man would have made for a complete experience, and while the golden reviews of Persona 5 Royal suggest Atlus got their choices right, it might have missed a big chance to expand on Kaneshiro's character.
Persona 5 Royal is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
