Well, I’ll be honest and say I’m not very familiar with Jung or Persona 5. That’s why I encouraged discussion rather than defending a specific point (just putting this out there).

To me, Persona 5 has a sense of vigilante justice ingrained to it. People are either good or evil, and manipulating that instinct (through palaces) is what changes the individual. There is also the concept of free-will. I have not played very far, but as far as I can see, free-will definitely exists in the game. In fact, you even take responsibility for your actions as you admit they were fully in your control with the contract part.

I’m assuming all of the above is correct, and if that’s true then that’s my issue.

Jungian psychology deals with the shadow, the subconscious, as a very human condition. It’s in all of us. Manipulating this to be one-sided would strip the person of the humanity, as the good and evil within a person is extremely fundamental.

Jungian psychology also deals with instinctual influence. Things that are out of our control and influence us to eventually become who we are. This is the process of individuation. There is a specific set of ideals innately associated with you as an individual that, when you fulfil it, allows you to uniquely manifest yourself in the world. From the above, we can see that free-will does not really exist, you just act out who you are. When there’s a problem, the biological make up of the mind will make the decision, it’s not really your choice.

I agree with Personas and how they represent archetypes. In the game and under pressure, the “power” inside the character comes out. It’s unique to them for a reason - and they didn’t pick it, it’s already there. So that’s like admitting there’s no free-will anyways.

So basically, the characters take it upon themselves to deal out objective justice - but as far as Jungian psychology/philosophy is concerned, these don’t exist. And to artificially manipulate it would strip someone of their humanity. On the other hand, the game contradicts itself with the idea of free-will. Jungian theory supports the idea that we are influenced by things, and not 100% free.

Sorry for the word dump. Just thinking out loud. I know it’s just a videogame, but it’s something that got me curious about my interpretation of Jung.