Counseling Student REACTS to Unused Dr. Maruki & Ryuji Session (Persona 5 Royal)

Today I'm looking at the unused, voiced counseling session between Ryuji Sakamoto and Dr. Takuto Maruki that was found in the games files. The footage used in this video is courtesy of Faz, so go check out their channel! But this session is essentially an alternative version of their existing session form Persona 5 Royal and what really struck me was just how much better Dr. Maruki did as a counselor to not only help Ryuji but also to much more organically retrieve the information that he would use within his actualization within the third semester. Ultimately I want to analyze which session is, in my opinion, better from a counseling perspective as well as which is better form a narrative perspective.
I do want to note that all counselor's will come at situations from different theoretical orientations, backgrounds, and belief systems. My opinions correlate with my own education and professional experience up to this point in my education.
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Watch all unused, voiced counseling session on Faz's channel here:
• Unused voiced Maruki c...
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[@willothewisp5315]

What? Maruki’s not overstepping boundaries and reading the room? Impossible. Honestly though, really wished this was used in-game. Ryuji organically talking about his injury rather than Maruki almost explicitly asking about it is so much better.

[@legendarytat8278]

Makes me wonder why they changed it…

[@willothewisp5315]

My guess is that asking the miracle question would be too overt of a topic to touch on or seem out of place. The counseling scenes are meant to be very subtle and build off each other so when we get to the big heel turn, we go “Oh my god, how did I miss that?” in retrospect.

[@seiishin2766]

While he does handle this session waaaay better than the canon one, I do prefer the one that's actually in the game because it adds more to the fact that Maruki wasn't initially a mental health professional but a cognitive psientist instead, so his numerous mistakes make more sense once you learn he's probably barely had any training or experience as an actual counselor.

[@Noelle_FromHell]

Snacks Man actually said something smart I am very shocked overall a decent session imo more of these would be amazing

[@luissandoval9775]

Omg I just finished watching the 1st season of Given today and I love your pfp. :0

[@Noelle_FromHell]

@@luissandoval9775 ahh thank you I love given so much

[@jonathanfaber3291]

Counseling? I think you mean, "professional empathy and friendship" 17:09 what? Ryuji got good vibes from Takuto "Good Vibes incarnate" Maruki? C'est impossible!

[@ViviCaligo]

I always like to hope after the ending on P5/R Ryuji got himself booked in for some therapy, poor kid went through so much shit that is just glossed over. Though I guess the same could be said for a lot of Persona characters, looking at you nearly the entire cast of 3.

[@ThoughtBubbleYT]

Yeah, they could all of the Persona casts could use a real counselor after everything they've been through.

[@AdumbroDeus]

@@ThoughtBubbleYT Problem is, what exactly would you do with a client that was saying "so, I have various traumas and psychological issues stemming from a period where I stole people's hearts to stop them from hurting others, starting with a high school teacher that was physically and sexually abusing students and ending with dethroning two Gods that wanted to take humanity's free will" I think unfortunately most counselors would tend to treat it as an inability to tell the difference between fantasy and reality which would undermine their ability to treat their actual issues, and just withholding it, well seems hard to believe that you can treat a patient without them letting you into their inner life.

[@hwanniggles187]

@@AdumbroDeus they are referring to their real world problems like the abuse and shunning Ryuji and Ann received, the isolation Makoto and Haru felt, the abuse Yusuke endured in plain site, and the shit Akechi endured with his mother commiting suicide and his father being a deadbeat piece of shit and always being alone with no one accepting him. Ren's is a bit bad timing kinda thing with Shido fucking him over and giving him a record making people outcast him despite the fact he's a chill dude. Christ the P3 crew had it worse as most of them were alone almost their entire life, especially Makoto/Minato, Yukari, Ken, Fuuka and Shinji with Makoto having it the worst and living with Death inside him as a bonus

[@FazPersona]

Woah ! I’m glad I found this, thank you for crediting and I really enjoyed the video !

[@ThoughtBubbleYT]

Of course! I'm glad you saw the video! Thank you for posting these interesting unused sessions! :)

[@FazPersona]

@@ThoughtBubbleYT I'm really glad you like them, can't wait for the other ones !

[@maverick5169]

Maruki: who are you? Betaruki: I am you but good

[@ThoughtBubbleYT]

I laughed too hard at this.

[@jeffythesomething8772]

I wonder if you could do some videos on some of the palace rulers. I would be interested on your thoughts on them and maybe make some theories on how they got to the point where they have a palace in the first place.

[@theredwarrior446]

I love these Maruki analysis videos! Well done as always

[@ThoughtBubbleYT]

Thanks I appreciate it!

[@worthlessbaka7872]

Im interested to hear your thoughts on Futaba and Haru's unused counselling. Especially Futaba's bc i find her's interesting.

[@Simke_Cloud]

Ryuji looks more open and cheerful here..

[@ThoughtBubbleYT]

For sure, I feel like that may be the reason they went with the other one. Maybe they felt it was a bit uncharacteristic of Ryuji to open up so much to a school faculty member he just met.

[@LooneyLei]

16:03 Wait at the end they changed the line from “No?” to “Maybe halfway?” Implying that Ryuji did kinda complimented Maruki That’s so wholesome! Screw the actual canon I’m choosing to believe this is what happened

[@ily9718]

Thank you for the awesome video! This one's in particularly interesting since we have the normal session for comparison. Congratulations on 7k btw!

[@kirb81]

Yeah congratulations

[@ThoughtBubbleYT]

Thank you! :D

[@hope_13]

Sure, this is a great series. I binged most of the original series as ever since I started studying fine arts I have a lot of time to listen to something while working on projects. Keep up the great work!

[@KoongYe]

I think this session wasn't used because Maruki's advice to Ryuji directly conflict with Maruki's views and actions.

[@Wupar]

As a play therapy counselor, I've been watching all of your Maruki videos lately, and they've given me a lot to think about when I work with my kids and teens. Thank you for your hard work and great insight!

[@clarkmilstead9927]

9:25 Dr. Maruki? Ulterior motives? Nooo.

[@ThoughtBubbleYT]

Neverrrrrrrr

[@crislouise2509]

I think the actual reason why they didn't use this because he wishes for him be able to fulfill his dream if possible. In his Palace during the questionnaire section one question is asking if you're struggling with your dream what would you do about it. From his point of view the right answer is to give up you're current dream and pick a new one. He's all about avoiding anything painful or difficult so he when he wishes that he can fulfill his dream if possible that would probably involve going through painful hardships to do it given his current situation so they probably cut it because what he says here conflicts with how they wanted his character to be.

[@StevoPL]

I honestly cant wait to see what will be your takes on Persona 3 characters.

[@LinkandSariaForLife]

I love these type of videos and I love your insights into the way Dr. Maruki does things. With my limited knowledge into how to run a counseling session (which is one class in college that taught me how to run one in the setting of a more biblical setting) I knew he wasn't doing everything right but I didnt know what he was doing wrong.

[@PiedraDeIjada]

Though unrelated to this video I hope you are doing ok with your studies despite the current situation. I finished university this summer and it was quite chaotic. So I hope you are studying at a place that handles the pandemic well! Also please cover more of the unused sessions! 😃

[@ThoughtBubbleYT]

Thank you so much, the current situation has definitely caused a lot of headaches with my practical experience, but my university has been very good about every. So I'm getting through one step at a time. :D And I likely will since it seems as though there's an interest!

[@PiedraDeIjada]

@@ThoughtBubbleYT that is good to hear!

[@akitouka19]

Great video man!

[@ThoughtBubbleYT]

Thank you!

[@grandarkfang_1482]

With everything I know about Maruki now, I'd say he's even worse in terms of villainy than Shido. I say this because while Shido wants to control the masses and the ebb and flow of information, we know that he sees everyone as lesser than him. He's sexist, bigoted, duplicitous and downright evil. But Takuto? Takuto is kind, respectful, overly passionate and genuine. Which makes his actions all the more terrifying, because what he is essentially doing is lobotomizing people and taking away their free will and ability to grow. He wants to be our Shepherd and guide us to what he believes to be our higher state of being. He so desperately believes that he is the only one who can save us from ourselves, but he doesn't realize that he's actually hurting everyone in doing so.

[@bessieburnet9816]

No. What you're basically trying to say is that someone who wants to stop people from getting hurt is worse than a guy hurting many people and ending lives. That's contradictory and it's downplaying how horrible Shido is

[@willothewisp5315]

This. Just all of this. Akechi even said it himself. The way the palace shadows talk give hints as to the nature behind the ruler and their distortion. “This one sounds rather cultish” and “all of this would suggest that the ruler isn’t in his or her right mind.” Maruki’s approach to the opposition of others seems rooted in blind faith, thinking that the Phantom Thieves will just come around to the idea that they can be happy, which most of them do for a little over a week. That could be why Maruki only stops after Sumire said she doesn’t believe in it anymore. He thinks the actualization with Sumire to be one of his biggest successes in terms of progression towards his goal, which makes it more important that even she thought it’s time to let things be. Thank you for reading my PSA on the subject of Takuto Maruki, have a good day.

[@legendarytat8278]

Then he's not worse in terms of villainy then, he's just misguided.

[@_Lis25]

I don't think he had this in mind. He couldn't predicted that he will get persona and god powers along with that.

[@mrsonic6196]

Hey bubble. You should make a video about what choosing a certain Waifu says about our personality in persona 5. I’m actually curious about that.

[@ReijiNRen]

I think this would have fit better in the game than the one we got. Not only from a counseling perspective like this, but also for the parallels. Ryuji reacts this same way to Maruki here, as he did you Joker initially. The openness here is a parallel to that in my opinion. Maruki is sort of a mirror to Joker, a foil. The fact that you only really see that near the end though is sort of sad. When they made Yu Narukami and Adachi foils, it was sprinkled all throughout the game. They seriously would have done Maruki better, if he had those sorts of parallels with Joker in this way. They are different people and showing the awkwardness fits well, but the sort of heavy handed attitude, to me doesn't fit nearly as well as this did.

[@MikulOnIce85]

I'm really hoping to see you watch and give your thoughts on this cut one with futaba most of all.

[@bloodaura5951]

I love these videos but I’d also like to know what your ideas are for future content because this might be your last persona 5 video, I would like to hear your opinions on other things too 🙂

[@ThoughtBubbleYT]

This is definitely not the last I'll be looking at Persona 5! But I do plan to continue branching out with videos on series like Kingdom Hearts, Fire Emblem, the Legend of Zelda, and more!

[@jasonblundelldobebussing]

Faz? More like "I'll pass"...the batton of course.

[@もちの花]

I'm sorry I can't help your subscriber count grow. I just don't know anyone with the same interests as me. I really, really like your content though, keep up the good work.

[@ThoughtBubbleYT]

That's more than okay, I'm just happy that you still enjoy watching the videos!

[@もちの花]

@@ThoughtBubbleYT of course! Thank you for always posting interesting things for us to watch!

[@makar7817]

I love your videos and was going to drop a follow on your twitter but the twitter link on your channel is dead, are you gonna update it?

[@ThoughtBubbleYT]

Oh thank you so much for pointing that out, I changed my handle a bit ago and completely forgot to change it! It should work now!

[@vrycxxlprson1491]

party time :D

[@ily9718]

Wait this is a party? I thought it was a counselling session

[@vrycxxlprson1491]

@@ily9718 hmmmm

[@passingdem0n303]

Wonder, what good character from Persona 2 should we suggest? There too many >~

[@kirb81]

Let’s go not first