Here are a few more common "Persona isn't cacophobic tho" arguments I want to debunk:

"Doesn't Rise say in her dungeon in P4 that she doesn't go for good-looks?"

You need to understand the context for this, to realise that this is not anti-cacophobic. In the context of the dungeon, this was the voice of her shadow. And it was her speaking to an interviewer as Risette.

This is essentially a lie concocted by Risette for the sake of positive PR, which ties her struggles with her shadow.

For the full context, and to truly appreciate how obvious it is that this is not an argument against a cacophobic-Rise, it's important to know the full quote, so here it is (bare in mind I'm paraphrasing a little):

"My ideal guy? Someone who is clean. I don't really go for looks, it's what's on the inside that counts for me. I don't really like handsome boys."

The key part there is the final part. The "I don't really like handsome boys" line is so stupid, so blatantly false, so something no teenage girl would say with sincerely, that it's obvious that it's only in there to indicate very strongly to both the player, and also to the Investigation Team, that Rise is bullshitting, and bullshitting hard; that she's playing the nice girl idol persona. This entire scene is here to establish that Rise feels conflicted about feeling like Risette doesn't reflect the genuine her.

I don't really understand why it's so difficult for people to apply context to this scene. It's indicating that Rise actually gauges guys by their looks and is upset about needing to lie (which is ironic, I might add, since the entire point here is that she's suffering from suppressive abuse in the idol industry, and can't be her true self). Seriously, the amount of times people quote Risette's bullshitting in this scene straight out, as though it shows that Rise isn't cacophobic, is ridiculous.

I want to make it clear, FYI, that I'm not equating Rise's choice in men with some overarching cacophobic ideology on her part; a girl wanting to date guys they find physically attractive doesn't mean they dislike ugly people, as anyone with a brain knows. I'm simply using this to debunk the argument that this proves she isn't cacophobic, as people often claim. Although, that said, putting Rise's personal choices aside, I do think that from a game design POV at least, this scene IS pro-cacophobia, because I think it's in there specifically to establish a common thread.

"The theme of Persona is being your true self, regardless of how others see you"

And? This has literally no connection to the cacophobic theming and it certainly doesn't go against it.

You're taking a message that is intended for good-looking/okay-looking people, and acting like it can apply to ugly people too. Do you not see the flaw in this logic?

"Here's a quote from Ann: [some quote from Ann]. Hah. That proves she wouldn't dislike ugly people. So there."

I hate these arguments, because it always feels like I'm arguing with someone who doesn't understand the basic principles of what I believe in. The same logic as with the above applies here: Whatever messages Persona is trying to push excludes ugly people by default. This isn't just a projection on my part as a cacophobe, this is very intentional, and you can see this in how Persona establishes most of it's character conflicts.

You can shit out all of the "people don't need your permission to live their lives", or whatever other Ann quotes, you want to pull out of your backside, at me. It doesn't establish that Ann considers ugly looking subhumans to be people who her opinion even applies to in the first place. You're not arguing on the same level as me, so your arguments are all but meaningless. If you can't establish that ugly people are even worthy in her eyes of being seen as valid, which they aren't, then any argument like this is utterly meaningless.

"What about the Moon Arcana in P3?"

Not only does it seem like this arcana is, if anything, open to massive interpretation (and I interpret it as being quite cacophobic), it's also one of the most hated social links/confidents in the entire series, if not THE most hated; deeply infamously so, as a matter of fact, so the point where people basically refuse to talk about it. And for good reason: because it's fucking stupid.

"What about Ai in Persona 4?"

People bring this up a lot, and I SERIOUSLY don't get it.

Since when was Ai's social link anti-cacophobic? Granted, it's been a while since I've played her social links; I could be misremembering, but to my recollection, wasn't it about her knowing that value equates to appearance, and growing to accept the fact, instead of being a whiny bitch who projects about it?

This isn't anti-cacophobic, and it doesn't in any way go against the idea that ugly people are worthless human beings. If anything it seems to support it quite a bit.

If there's something I'm missing here, please feel free to try and tell me. I legitimately feel like I experienced a different character to everyone else (then again, given how against the idea of Persona being cacophobic everyone is, I feel like I played a different damn series to everyone else. But whatever).

"What about Ryuji?"

What about him? People bring him up as some example a lot to try and debunk the idea that the Phantom Thieves don't "discriminate against ugly people" and I don't understand. Since when is he ever considered to be physically ugly? I guess you can say he'd be kind of not attractive, if you take away the anime artstyle effect on the characters, but that's neither here nor there.

I also think the same logic as what I said with Junpei in the previous one of these applies here too; although to a lesser extent.