Goro Akechi (Crow)

Troubled teenagers gradually realize they live in a toxic and dangerous society that resembles a prison filled with slavery, oppression, and injustice, ruled by corrupt and twisted adults. They cannot live with the system and they cannot live without it, and simply existing means risking conviction and condemnation to a life of servitude.

In their quest for freedom, liberation, and justice, they live double lives as rebellious Phantom Thieves of hearts. Using a mysterious smartphone app, they embark on fantastical adventures, employing otherworldly powers to enter the hearts of people (specifically, corrupt adults in positions of power) in order to reshape and transform them. The Phantom Thieves realize that society forces people to wear masks to protect their inner vulnerabilities, and by confronting their inner selves and literally tearing off their protective masks, the heroes awaken their inner power, using it to help those in need.

Akechi's situation is layered, but fundamentally, his deep absorption in his quest for recognition through fame—a goal rendered an impossible dream by the injustice he has suffered—has blinded him to the error of his ways. He uses his inability to fill the void in his heart to justify revenge, for even when he achieves fame, he cannot reap its validation, as he is secretly an illegitimate child thanks to his father, trapped in a self-perpetuating sense of disgrace. His superficial jealousy provides him with an outlet to expose the raw emotions his vengeful journey had kept in check, revealing his true nature: a deranged, nihilistic madman who desires nothing more than to prove his superiority.

His fans will rush back to him anyway if he makes mistakes, like when the Phantom Thieves triumphed over Kaneshiro and Medjed.

As a result of his childhood and overall situation with Masayoshi Shido, Akechi's sense of justice is hollow and empty, regardless of the interpretation: in public, he presents a peaceful vision that condemns the Phantom Thieves' actions even as executioners, believing they have no right to play with people's hearts at any cost; the party completely disagrees with, if not outright ignores, his views, which only hinder their genuine attempts to improve Tokyo. That said, Akechi shifts to enacting blind justice, as behind the scenes he becomes a ruthless killer driven by spite to an obsessive degree, this time finding no qualms about eliminating evil people through murder, considering himself no different from the Phantom Thieves, much to their chagrin. Despite being a generally pragmatic and competent person, Akechi has an unintentional carelessness that sometimes bleeds into conversations, such as overhearing Morgana mentioning delicious pancakes in a conversation he stumbled into when he shouldn't have been able to understand her, or inadvertently taking the spicy takoyaki from the basket. The former, in particular, cost him his victory against the Phantom Thieves, especially since no one else in Shido's cabinet was clever or observant enough to take them down.

Much of Akechi's talent has been nurtured naturally thanks not only to his own open-mindedness and effort, but also to the support of others that he has accepted.

In reality, his detective prince persona is nothing more than a carefully crafted act designed to grant him a public image and mask his true nature: insecure and deeply desperate for validation. Because he was born an illegitimate child, he was despised by others, considered nothing more than a scandal, even ruining his mother's life and driving her to suicide. He was subsequently placed in children's institutions. Akechi grew up a lonely, "nobody" who longed to be loved; this feeling persisted into his adolescence. The stigma of being an illegitimate child, though also heavily implied as an impulsive mistake on Shido's part, has haunted Akechi and become the foundation of his incredibly misanthropic worldview, as well as his legitimate self-loathing. No matter how much Akechi tries to change, the hatred that binds him to his past remains deeply ingrained.

Akechi's desperation for recognition drove him to study relentlessly, striving for perfection and cultivating his outward image as the Detective Prince in the hopes of gaining acceptance from those around him. Even after developing an overwhelming fanbase, Akechi still dislikes people for their allegiances, having clearly become something of a fraudulent hero: not only does the more honest Sojiro Sakura dislike him for his work with the police, but even the Heart Thieves themselves find him a threat, as his public opinions and comments are nothing but an obstacle to them. Even public support fails to fill the void in his heart, as he knows he is only loved if he maintains the pretense of being a charismatic idol detective rather than a bastard child.

“Why am I inferior to you…!? I was extremely particular about my life, my grades, my public image, so someone would want me around! I’m a detective like… a celebrity! But you… You’re just a criminal piece of trash living in an attic! So how come!? How does someone like you have things I don’t!? How can such a useless piece of trash be more special than me!?”

In public and with all his relationships, Akechi appears well-mannered, friendly, humble, and charismatic. His achievement as a high school detective, coupled with his handsome features, makes him very popular with the general public, and he is often referred to as "The Second Coming of the Detective Prince." His intelligence and fluency earned him enough trust from the police to conduct his own investigation despite his young age, working alongside Sae Niijima, who fully trusts him to assist her in her research.

He presents himself as having a strong sense of justice, disapproving of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts for their methods. He is sincere in expressing his disagreement, but he wants to hear other people's opinions honestly. He quotes Hegel on this, stating that "progress cannot occur without thesis as much as without antithesis."

Akechi has shaggy, neck-length brown hair with bangs and reddish-brown eyes. He wears a brown coat with black buttons, a black and white striped tie, black trousers, black gloves, and black loafers. His casual winter attire consists of a long-sleeved white shirt with lapels under a blue argyle sweater vest, beige trousers, and brown shoes.

As Crow, Akechi wears a princely insignia of pure white with red details and a long-nosed red mask, a gold belt, and gold epaulettes with red details on his shoulders. His mask was modeled after those worn by medieval plague doctors to evoke an image of unapproachability, and his formal uniform was designed to resemble that of a mounted aristocratic guard or honor guard.[8] As with his Robin Hood persona, he is meant to give the impression of being a champion of justice, with nothing to do with being a phantom thief, robber, or thief of any kind. Akechi enjoys being the center of attention, and his design reflects that contrast.

He is a public celebrity, hailed by his fans and the media as the reincarnation of the detective prince, and is investigating the mysterious case of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts that is causing a sensation in Japan.