Regarding the gas station attendant: It's not much, but I wanna mention that when you shake their hand, in the original PS2 version, the rumble feature in the controller is triggered. When someone pointed that out to me years later I thought it was super cool because I hadn't even thought about it.
Can't say for sure because I use a PS4 controller and the only way for me to play with PS buttons is to NOT make steam turn my PS4 controller into an Xbox one, since I use my controller on Bluetooth, and the DS4 drivers ONLY works with vibration if you use it on a cable, the controller never vibrates for me xD
Ironically, as someone that have lots of relationships, but no friends, I hated this game with a passion after playing it, mostly because Persona 3 message resonated more with me and had been spoiled right before I started playing, and this felt like a HUGE turning point for the series. The hate has dwindled with the years, but it's still my least favorite Persona game till this day, at least story wise.
@@SeaSerpentLevi Devil Survivor? Nah. There's something about the aesthetic that I don't like. Must have to do with the main characters looking like teenagers. I played Strange Journey, but for whatever reason I lost interest in the last zones. My save file is still siting there in my emulator, collecting dust.
@@ParalyzedHorse95 naah i can definately understand. I actually like the character art for that game, maybe because they remind me some manga i used to read like bakuman, but all in all definately a matter of taste/context. There are moments where im not too into that strong anime vibe, that i also get turned off by the overused tropes. But my problem with the game was actually that initially i didnt like tactics lol, and it was actually one of the games that made me like it. The story gets pretty good too in therms of character development. And the ost.. well were talking megaten! Always a treat :] If you ever feel like givin it a chance despite the artstyle, hope you have fun. o//
Really the main flaw of P4 is that when you go into battle you don't hear "BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY" over a blaring horn riff before a guy starts rapping about how his rhymes cause property damage.
to be fair the killer being ultimately childish in his reasoning is kind of the point he never really grew up as a person due to his isolation and essentially ended up an entitled manchild its tragic because it didnt need to be that way, someone could've given him a good reality check early on but there was no one to
Adachi is also a competent cop during his first few years on the job. Finding his efforts amounting to being sent to the boonies must've snapped the poor guy.
I have to assume he just doesn't enjoy this archetype, perhaps because it is overused in Japanese media, not that it's inherently bad. Just remember it's all opinion (I like Adachi as well).
exactly. the whole point of his character is that he's a wannabe 4chan jokar edgelord with too much ego and not enough self awareness. he's stunted, and has been sitting in the pits of his bitterness and despair for fuckin' years. the ethos of the game is, ultimately: you can be like yu, or you can be like adachi. pick yu. live life, make friends, don't wallow in despair and bitterness.
@@sevirkenevans It's why his S-Link starts as Jester. Jesters are kept around to be entertainment for the king. If we look at it at another angle, it could be Adachi's own self-reclection of himself. He wanted to be something in society, but instead society made him the joke.
I still think that the writer’s intentions with kanji’s and naoto’s character were simpler than people read into because even though kanji might’ve been questioning his sexuality when he met naoto, that wasn’t the point anyway, and he ultimately came to the conclusion that it’s ok to be strong and have feminine hobbies, and to just not care about what others say about him (since he was bullied for it), and he also still likes naoto even after she revealed to everyone she was a girl. And about naoto, she said herself that she grew up idolizing a male detective from her favorite book and it was her dream to be just as good of a detective as him and her family of detectives and combined that with the fact that being a woman in that line of work, especially in Japan, is very difficult, she thought the only way people would take her seriously is if she pretended to be a boy (even though they ended up not taking her seriously because of her age). But the whole point of her character arc was that she realized that she didn’t need to change herself for the sake of her job or other people, and in the end, she accepted herself as both a woman and a detective.
this is exactly how i read into it. not trying to pretend Atlus is free of sin with any of their writing and negative stereotyping but these two specific cases seemed way more simple than looking through a modern lens back at the writing and digging deeper into the gender identity of two characters. Not to discredit that view either, but I just don't think that was how the story was meant to be interpreted.
@@sevirkenevans ya honestly I think people have kinda warped what the original intentions of these arcs were and have made it so much more complicated and worse. I’m not saying that these views aren’t wrong or K Bash is dumb or anything like that but I feel that these stories were meant to be much simpler.
@Lucca "What was even the point of the gay bathhouse and the "sex change operation" if not for the shock and mockery?" Because their dungeons and shadow selves represent their fears in an exaggerated way. Kanji is afraid of becoming a stereotype, the stereotype of gay men that used to appear on "variety" shows after hours in Japan. His personal development consists of acknowledging that he can behave and like things that are less traditionally masculine and still be a man. The chance that he may be attracted to other guys only adds to his insecurity. Naoto is more straightforward. She wants to become a respected detective, but she is a woman in a world of men, so of course she asks herself if attaining her ideals wouldn't be easier if she was a man too. "The more sinister implication is that it's okay to have "feminine interests" and to be a tomboy in your youth, but not to be gay or trans." Is it? It seems to me like you're putting words in the writers' mouths. The game never says (or even implies) that you shouldn't be gay or trans. I agree that the headcanon that Kanji is gay and Naoto trans is more interesting and might be more satisfying for us... but they aren't.
The power of friendship ending with Izanami is in the original Persona 4. Golden only added Marie, her dungeon, some extra Adachi stuff, and the epilogue where you revisit Inaba.
The conclusion at the end of this video is so apt for me personally. Maybe I'm getting too personal for game review comment section, but Persona 4 Golden is a game that I played at a really dark time in my life, and the experience left me with so much that I genuinely believe that it helped me get out of it. Maybe I'm not strictly "better" but at least it feels like I'm trying, and the emotions I felt while playing this game is something I'll hold close to myself for the rest of my life. I love this game with all my heart, and I'm happy that other people are experiencing the same things I did when I played it all those years ago. Keep up the good work dude.
She literally accepts who she is and continues to do what she wants despite that being a "male occupation". If that's not empowering then I don't know what is. And I'm not even a feminist and I think that many completely missed the point of her arc simply to say this 2008 game doesn't understand 2021 issues.
Persona 4 has something over Persona 3, which is the cast spending time together. You get to witness their dynamics and relationship. In Persona 3 I always felt a disconnect between the characters.
It’s mostly because of the fact that you as the MC are joining into a group who already were doing see’s before you got here VS the investigation team who you as the player founded so a lot of those dynamics are centered around you vs issues that existed and at a time that was the point of 3 because their all dormmates and more often than not dormmates Aren’t always your friends just associates and in a dorm where you all fight to save the world your more co workers who can be friends. Plus a lot of characters go through problems that genuinely require someone that isn’t a silent protagonist to get them through vs 4 where the bulk of the problem is solved in their dungeon
The thing is, the relationships in 4 are a lot shallower than in 3. 4 focuses more on developing IT as a group while giving very little room to let the characters shine on their own, leading to less defined and simpler dynamics overall eg. Yosuke's and Chie's relationship never progresses further than 'friends that take shots at each other.' P3 focused more on fleshing out everyone individually and it means the group may feel more fractured at first but it also means they are given opportunities to form stronger more multi-faceted bonds with certain members on SEES and makes the moments later on when they have grown to become a strong group feel a lot more impactful than they would have been otherwise.
@@Skallva yea cuz like I mentioned earlier there’s a lot of moments in 3 that requires someone who isn’t a silent character to actually give characters proper closure
I'd argue that persona 3 was more realistic. The friend group hung out to a degree but you had your mitsuru's and Shinjiros where they preferred to be alone because one was sheltered and they other felt like a monster. And when the certain characters like Mitsuru and Yukari and Fuuka and Junpei and so on got to talking- It was strong. It was a group that grew closer with time and learning more about each other. No issue with 4 but it felt weird that Rise and Naoto just instantly fit into the group and any and all issues never happened with each other. Yosuke literally creeps on his his friends and treats kanji like a thrope and it never gets adressed, but the persona 3 cast had issues with each other at times and that's real imo. I love my best friend but there are times we get into fights over petty things and apologize or get angry because we might be hurting ourself and the other notice. P3 is flawed but real P4 is too perfect.
Actually the Naoto trans thing is just an idea people have forced based on their interpretations of the social link's story, Naoto is canonically and does view herself as female, she tries to act male due to the way women are discriminated against in many aspects of Japanese society, especially in the work force. Naoto's story is about her accepting that she can easily be discriminated against due to things she can't control like her age or sex but that she shouldn't let that get to her, it was never about her "wanting to be male" is was about her accepting herself for who she is and not letting how others view her effect her, even the wiki says this "When she confronts her Shadow, she comes to the realization that her true desire is not in becoming an adult or a male, but to be respected for who she is as a person, including accepting herself as is."
@Lucca Well, I didn't know about the castration thing, but one reason that scene was in the game may have been for aesthetic reasons since it fit w/ certain rooms found in a whole bunch of movies which is partially what the dungeon takes inspiration from (I know it's tokusatsu but I feel it likely also takes some small cues from spy films). Though it could also be a commentary on "doing whatever it takes to accomplish one's goals" or something like that. Another plausible reason could just be that the developers wanted to add some "stakes" to make the player imagine all the possible horrible things that could happen if they fail, in a similar vein to what they did w/ P5, I mean who really knows
Because shadows are a HYPER EXAGGERATION of the ideas and feelings that the people are surpressing. The idea of "being taken seriously as a detective would be easier if i was a man." Is one such idea, an idea that got hyper exaggerated by her shadow just like it's childishness. The "sex change scene" is the logical extreme of that mindset. She never veiwed herself as a male, she thought that the only way to get taken seriously was to be male. She then realized that she could be a great detective regardless because her gender doesn't actually have anything to do with that.
@@unnamed_protagonist right on the money. Another example is saying that you don’t like cheese. In reality you may really dislike it but in reality you’re able to keep that in check and not let that be a problem. But with your shadow he absolutely despises it and wants it off the face of the earth. The shadow takes these parts of peoples personalities and basically gives them no restraint.
Love the video but I was a little sad to hear that you think the animations are lacking for the persona summoning in terms of the glasses. It's not about the glasses it's about the tarot cards they use to summon their persona, and all of your party members summon it in unique ways as well, Yu crushes it, Yosuke, spins into it with his kunai, Chie kicks it, Yukiko uses a fan to smash it, so on and so forth. Just wanted to throw that out there. I feel like 4 has just as much flair and personality when it comes to the battles.
yeah i was really weirded out that he missed that. it's not the glasses you're supposed to focus on, it's the actions themselves. on that note: one thing i always found cool is that, while everyone else destroys their card with their weapon, yu is the only one who physically grabs his card and crushes it with his bare hand. to me this is kind of a foreshadowing of his characterization of being this tough hardcore badass type character who's also really cool headed and stoic.
Naoto was never trans. She disguised herself as male because nobody would take her seriously in the the detective field. The game is very clear about that.
Right, this was commentary on a male-dominated work environment where Naoto wanted to feel respected. I get that there are trans themes...but it just feels like a misread of what information the game is presenting us.
I mean, he does say in the vídeo that atlus never intended to say that Naoto is a trans character, just that nowadays that arc can be correlated to these social issues.
agree but if there are people that feel good by seeing naoto as trans you shouldn't shame them for it sometimes how a person feels about a character is more important than what the author intended the character to be read as
I never understood why people get that idea, especially when Kanji and Naoto are made to be mirrors of each other. Both of are a defined gender, but have hobbies or act in a way that can be seen as something defined by the opposite. They are both aware of it, and are aware of how they want to identify, but simply want people to seem them as themselves, not as the stereotypes society wants to see them as.
So for once my tokusatsu knowledge is going to be useful. Naoto's dungeon is a clear reference to Dai Shocker, the villain group of Kamen Rider, who kidnapped the main character and tried to turn him into a weapon, but instead he escaped after they modified him and decided to fight against Shocker. Naoto's shadow is also referencing multiple properties like Kikaider and Astroboy. Kikaider is especially prescient as a lot of his interpretations over the decades have been about a hero who faces discrimination while trying to understand his own humanity. I think this is interesting because it tells me that Naoto hopes that coming out of the discrimination and identity issues will either make them their best self, i.e. Kamen Rider, a virtuous hero who came out of his trials at Shocker (the sexist and misogynist justice system in Japan that would make them feel lesser because of their birth sex) and uses their gained powers to defend and fight for those that this system would exploit or ignore, or they will become like Kikaider, a much more tragic figure that will never feel accepted by the people they defend until it becomes a struggle to remember why they bothered in the first place. Being a trans person myself I get the whole "being made into a monster" thing, it can be both empowering and disparaging. I choose not to look too literally at the Naoto's dungeon because I never thought that was the point.
This may just be me but as a boy I empathize with Kanji's story. I questioned my sexuality a few times from my desire to knit, crochet, making warm fuzzy shit. I always that the questioning part comes from a misunderstanding of what it means to be a man and "if you're not a man you're a woman" type thought. When you don't know what a man is, or what it "means to be one" you tend to question if you even are one. At least that's what it was for my adolescent mind at the time.
Gotta disagree with your take on the trans story. I think its a totally valid story to tell. Besides that, this is a great video. Edit: So apparently the character isn't even trans. So that's even more damning if you ask me. I'll go the good faith route here and assume that whole tangent was a result of a misread of the story mixed with a preconceived distaste for the poor treatment of that group. Even if she were trans, though, I don't think it's "anti-trans" to tell a story of somebody questioning, then deciding to stick to who and what they were born as.
@Lucca The sex change operation scene was because Naoto was so sure that she needed to be a man to be taken seriously in her line of work. Her whole arc is about being a young woman in a male dominated line of work. She hid who she really was, and denied it because no one ever take her seriously as a woman and a young detective. The end of her arc is accepting being a woman, and wanting to be the best she could be, as herself, without hiding it. It had nothing to do with trans anything.
@Lucca Honestly, I typically lean towards misunderstanding before malice in these situations. I like what Tony Branch had to say about it, but at the end of the day I wasn't on the writing team and have no idea what the intention behind that arc was. All I know is that the events of the story don't fully fit the theme of "anti-trans" and thusly shouldn't be considered such. It may indeed read as such from a particular point of view in the subtext, but it's not a theme that's present in the text. I hope you get what I'm saying here.
He said that it reads as transphobic today and not that it wasn’t understandable at the time. Even now the culture in japan is still largely ignorant of trans issues. Personally I understand the idea behind her character, where the point was coming to accept who you are instead of trying to appeal to outside pressure. I think the larger issue is the misrepresentation of the issue in reality. Ignorance of trans issues or not, the reality is that people who are committed enough to have a genital reassignment surgery are incredibly unlikely to not be transgender. The rate that happens is less than 1%. It’s just the reality that people who spend a long time questioning their gender and seek medical intervention almost always do if they can, and almost always never regret doing so. This isnt a 50/50 scenario. In japan it’s a long running trope that those who do explore their gender often end up “accepting” their birth gender, and since it’s so heavily skewed that way despite the facts it just kind of sucks to see it here. In this story in particular I don’t think it would have fit if the ending was her fully committing to being a man. It didn’t seem like it was set up that way and it wouldnt have been a payoff because thats basically where she started. It would have been better if they just didn’t go so hard about it. I don’t remember how much they included about her struggling between suppressing her feminine interests and forcing masculine ones, but I think it would have been more palatable if that was the highlight throughout the story.
@@Smolharuharu I'm really against the idea of a story being "off limits" due it it being politically incorrect or otherwise offensive to anybody's sensibilities. If we go that route, then suddenly any fantasy world that uses magic is not allowed because witchcraft is bad in many communities. The representation angle doesn't really work for me either, since, again, it only ever applies to specific groups. Nobody cares that lots of religious denominations are under represented; and often poorly depicted when they are present. Nobody cares *unless* it's the group they associate with. I get that all this isn't exactly what you're saying but I think its worth acknowledging since it's such a widespread double standard.
Honestly I like youske I get the whole argument with him being essentially a homophobic womanizer. I’m more or less ok with it because he’s a teenager in Japan in 2012. It’s more or less a product of the times (I get that it doesn’t make it entirely right though)
I think Yosuke is the member of the group that behaves the most like an actual teenager. Most teenagers around the world are sexist and homophobic, but many grow out of it as they get older. Hell, I used to have pretty dumb views about gender and LGBT issues myself when I was a teenager, until I discovered I was just ignorant and/or misinformed.
@@mambu3630 yes yosuke is a super realistic and relatable character. I hate when people dumb him down to being homophobic or comedy relief. He’s so much more than that.
@@thegoodeboy2016 Fuckin this. I would also get it if he was a closeted homosexual, but even though that didn't happen, he's still pretty spot on when it comes to a kid in 2011. Here in the Bahamas it's still like that. People need to remember the time this game game out
@@PersTG The time the game came out honestly doesn’t mean anything, if anything it just shows how the game aged poorly, Yosuke was pretty bad, and if they ever did a full fledged remake of P4 cutting out all that crap would probably be a good idea
@@Maya-ls3ky censoring or altering is rarely good. Especially in this case. Its age hasn't changed. Go listen to how teenage boys talk to each other now in 2021. It's the same crap
@@PathBeyondTheDark Let's be completely honest here, most people who play Persona are probably doing it for the waifus and couldn't give a shit about anything they need to use their brain to understand. *Edit because I realize the initial comment sounded unnecessarily harsh - Obviously a lot of people can understand the deeper concepts the games present but there are a lot of younger guys that primarily play these games and take the dating sim approach first and the thinking about anything else part last. It's also not just the Persona games, series like Fire Emblem have the same problem.
And the multiple romance options with adults much older then the protag. Oh an also the sexual harassment of a character by friends for laughs after she was sexually harassed by a teacher, but that ties into Yosuke.
@@PathBeyondTheDark When Ann gets leered at when she doesn’t like it she completely wrecks their shit and stands up for herself, when before with Kamoshida she would’ve just been complacent. When she likes it/okay with it, she laughs and playfully jabs Ryuji. It’s still not great, but it’s not as bad as people make it out to be. You can make the argument that the guys shouldn’t be as pervy, but do real sexual harassment survivors who have moved passed that point in their life not like being looked at in that way by those who aren’t their abuser? Are they not allowed to be okay with it?
Man, I'll always hate the takes of "Kanji is gay and Naoto is trans" because they're effectively mirroring the same outside mentality that gave those characters their complexes in the first place.
My only comment would be kbash repeatedly bringing up role play in reference to this game but not many jrpgs that I know of encourage/allow for actual rp the best you ever get in jrpgs is a blank slate character that doesn't flavor the events of the story much themselves. I would say it would be a more valid critique of the subgenre as a whole than p4 specifically.
I honestly try role playing more as the protagonist rather than myself if that makes sense. Like when I play persona 2 I don’t see my self I see Tatsuya. When I play p5 I see Ren.
@@PlayerUnoYT well ya I get that. But he’s still silent and while his default name is still Tatsuya you can still name him whatever you want. So while I don’t do it there is still an attempt to make him a self insert for the player.
I agree, whenever I play an RPG I feel like I'm walking a tightrope of abstract and specific dialogue options more than... Playing a choice driven game. I guess that's my fault for wanting to experience all the content?
The part about Shu Nakajima got me. It's something I already knew from the bottom of my heart, but having someone just openly and so nicely put it in words, it hits a lot harder. Your Persona videos have been really good to watch back to back, can't wait to see P5.
Really loved this video as always K-bash, but i don't really agree with the Naoto part. Although you made good points about when it comes to atlus using overused and unfunny jokes against trans people and gender Identity I don't really think that's the case with her (aside for the fetishization part wich I can agree with to a certain extent) : the thing is Naoto dresses and acts like a male because she wants to be a detective...something that at the time was considered a job only a man can do wich means that her, as a woman might not be recognized for her work just because of her gender, wich is why she wants to be seen as a male. When you think of it, nowadays women are still being overlooked for certain jobs so I think they generally get Naoto and her gender identity crisis the wrong way. Although i tend not to defend Persona games when they abuse this tasteless trope let's not forget that this is japan we talking about after all, and working envoirements can be either inaccessibile or legit hell for women. EDIT: I'm really sorry if there are some grammar mistakes but English it's not my first language so I hope you'll understand...if not then please bear with, it's not like this is the first comment adressing Naoto anyway and I'm pretty sure there's people here that explained it better than I did😅
@Lucca Crossdressing to achieve some professional goal is not being trans. The film Mrs. Doubtfire is not a trans allegory, for example. Neither are the films White Chicks or She's the Man. Naoto pretended to be male because she felt it would legitimize her work in the field of private investigation. Her shadow is her fear that she'll never be a good detective unless she literally becomes a male, and her actual skills don't matter. It's internalized sexism. The same way Kanji happens to have interests that could be viewed as feminine, and his shadow is thus his insecurity about his own masculinity made manifest, not a representation of him being in the closet. And yes, Japanese humor can sometimes be the opposite of what the West might consider politically correct. That's typically how different cultures operate.
@Lucca the sex change operation is used to show how far would Naoto go in order for her to be accepted as a detective since they wouldn't consider her as such if they knew she was a girl as I said in my comment...therefore none of the other things you say in my opinion really apply to the Naoto discussion. Nontheless i don't want to minimize what you said about the hell trans people live in Japan unfortunately when it comes to social issues like these they are pretty narrow minded i'll give you that; but in the moment you understand that her whole character progression is about not being able to pursue her career because she is a woman and not about wanting to be considered a male no matter how much she tries, that's as far as it goes, it's just that.
Regarding Naoto, I don't think her arc is "anti-trans," because Naoto's issue--much like Kanji's--is that she feels she "must" be a man (in Kanji's case, gay) due to her interests. They both conflate their identity with their personality, opposite ends of being trapped by binary gender roles. Naoto wants to be a detective, and feels that because she is a woman, she can't do that. Kanji like sewing and girly shit, and feels that because of that, he certainly must be gay. Some people really don't want to hear it, but Naoto was never trans and Kanji was never gay, and that's entirely the point of their storylines. They were made to *feel* like they *had* to be trans/gay because of the expectations set upon them. Conceptually this is no different from any of the other party members, every single one is struggling with being true to themselves in the context of wider society. Ultimately, the lesson they learn as well as the message the game puts forth, is that you don't have to be anything or anyone other than you. Human traits are not a transitive property, A=/=B=/=C. Kanji doesn't have to be gay just because he likes sewing. Naoto doesn't have to be a man just because she yearns for a position in a male-dominated career. It really can be that simple. I think maybe a lot of people think that they really are gay/trans in part due to a wish for representation, as well as possibly being used to "confused about gender/sexuality" stories generally coming to that conclusion. But you can be confused about yourself and end up finding that the answer was actually how you were before you started questioning all along. That's why it's confusion--both options are possible.
12:04 to 13:40 See this is why I like the P3 cast alot more personally. The p3 gang are so layered in their flaws and personalities. They were a difunctionally group that had issues with each other and became friends through a shared problem of the midnight hour. They can get annoyed with you as well. And the amazing part was their persona evolved through interacting with each other; and don't depend on you to make them better people. It's one of the things I miss about persona and wish they would bring back. Like make their third tier personas evolve through player action after. I respect whichever persona game you like, but Persona 3 really did feel so much more alive in terms of character. I couldn't agree more they felt very thropey
Perhaps I am biased since in my experience good friends are collection of very different individuals that each have specific quirks that make them stand out. Yet its those quirks that make you appreciate them. This is why the P3 cast feels less realistic based on my experience. I did not know that many angsty individuals, people who worked together got along instantly or not at all, not over time.
@@PathBeyondTheDark Angsty? Nah see you already lost. that's not the overall goal for the characters; and if you pay attention they grow out of that as the game goes on. Look at ultimax, these people are doing dream jobs, looking forward to the future. Starting "angsty" Heck I hate to call it that. Let me explain: the P3 cast are kids going to war with magical gods, they could die at any time it's hard to just stay constantly positive through that. and they're more realistic cause how many people do you know with shitty parents who want you to be a certain way and going out with your friends is the only way to escape their overbearing personalities. And hell you may never get along with them and become estranged. Or fear losing loved ones and work hard to protect the little you do have? Heck this persona has four orphans and they try to make the best of their situations. Or the friend who has a deadbeat father that hits other family and they hate them and want to do something bigger than themselves, bigger than themselves and dreams of living in a better world. The friend that doesn't know what they want out of life and what they wanna do after school, they fear losing their friends? Look I'm glad you like p4 cause it was closer to what you experienced but man p3 cast has more than just "angsty" characters. They start off distrustful of each other, and slowly grow into a group of friends, a found family, people who want to always be together cause their lives aren't exactly the most glamorous. It's more personable and realistic to me because I had to earn and work to gain friendships and not all my friends liked each other. And even when they did like each other still saw flaws in each other. P4's cast for me like kbash said is way too just unrelatable, they become friends way too fast. I mean come on you may like p4's cast but like in p3 when Junpei is creepy the girls call him out and get annoyed or ignore him. Yosuke gets creepy and you never get a chance to really call him out, just join in on the fun. I agree with Kbash on this one. And many times he's krass to Kanji or to the girls who all just kinda let it happen. Idk personally I think the p3 cast is more fleshed out as a group of real friends and they have issues and laugh and cry and help each other without the player sometimes. They're more than just "angsty"
P4 Golden was literally the reason I got a Vita. I knew nothing about the series, I just wanted the special edition case and ended up completely and absolutely engrossed in it through my Junior and Senior years in high school
Naoto is not trans! She's a woman who wants to be taken seriously in an occupation dominated by men, so she dresses like a boy and pretends to be one in order for people to not treat her poorly for her sex. And Kanji isn't gay. He simply has hobbies and interests that seen as feminine in Japan, and was afraid that people would think that he wasn't masculine if they knew he had these interests. He later gets over it by the end of his storyline.
This is definitely the worst problem when it comes to murder mystery settings. Once the big bad is shown you bet you're about to be spoiled on who it is. Which is a shame because P4 has some good plot twists that would more or less make me actually believe that those false ones were actually the culprit.
I've had the same problem too. Mind you, the game still delivers the real culprit with stellar writing, enough to be engaging despite already knowing who he was, but I still can't shake the feeling that I would've loved this game even more if I hadn't been spoiled before
I had a slightly different experience with spoilers - for context i played p4g for the first time in February this year and it was recommended by a friend who tried incredibly hard to spoil it - luckily i was able to avoid spoilers so the twist of who the killer was and to this day im surprised i pulled that off
@@JohnDoe-gt3jr tbh its probably because i bought the game impulsively so i wasnt part of the fanbase before and i wasnt looking at the fanbase while playing it so i got lucky
I can be in no way objective about this game, I think we all have THAT story, it could be a show, a book, a game or a movie. That story that hit you at the perfect time in the perfect way that sculpted your character around it. Persona 4 Golden was that for me, I love this game, I love its characters, Never More makes me cry every time I here it. It has problems to be sure and as a game I know 5 is stronger, but 4G just has that place in my heart where I could never view it as anything other than a masterpiece.
Agreed. Persona 4 came into my life at a time where I was questioning everything, completely adrift in life. I had no idea who I was (my "true self") or what I really valued anymore. And as stupid as it may sound, P4G drove home how important the bonds that connect you to others really are. No, I can't summon a god to kill demons. But I can draw on the love and support of my friends when I need to fight my own demons -- it's through the people I care about that I can grow and adapt, no matter how hard life might get. No, it isn't perfect. The dungeons are boring (not as bad as Tartarus, but close) and I wish the fallout of your social links were a little better integrated into the main game. (I want Chie to have dinner with Yu, Dojima, and Nanako, goddammit) But love is blind, and I really do love this game. When Nevermore comes on shuffle, I cry like a baby. And I wouldn't want it any other way.
I mean I notice old people hate on the obnoxious or edgy/pervy characters. But holy shit, its the most realistic depictions of what being a teen is. I think they hate on it cause they know thats what they were like when they were little shit heads.
I got into Persona over the past year and have played through 3-5 and many of the characters and the way they act feel similar to my friends and other teens I know.
Exactly. Its like hello yes youre an adult and not a perv. But please understand if a literal teenager doesnt know any better or refuses to act that. They are still developing.
I wouldn't mind Yosuke and Teddie if they had an arc where they became normal over time and grow as people or became normal during serious moments but they're just bad the whole game
Naoto was never trying to be or was meant to be trans. She was pretending to be a male because that fit the image of what she saw as a respected and cool detective. And nobody would really accept a kid female detective. Not because she wanted to be a guy. Actually, saying she was trying to trans would actually be offensive, since if she was, she had some pretty shallow reasons.
As a long time viewer of your content this is quite a video. Especially the part concerning naoto being implied to want to be a male because no one would take her seriously due to her wanting to be a detective which us commonly shown as a male occupation. You say you are basically pro women and how her accepting that she is female and catering to the player is a fetishization of her character yet she completely accepts who she is and being a female detective or whatever. I'm not feminist or whatever but that to me comes off as empowering as she goes on to do what she wanted despite being a woman breaking the mold of it being a "male occupation". While I can somewhat see your point of her maybe wanting to be transgender or a male I think you might be looking at it way too deep. Also I highly doubt that this 2008 game really cared about those social issues since they weren't a " big thing" like they are now. Considering this was made in Japan too also probably adds to that as well. Yosuke being a "bigot" to me comes off as him doing what we've all done teasing and constantly poking fun at someone for being different and at least to me it comes off as projecting as he had a lot of stuff taken out of his character but besides that I find it immature and funny not so much at what he's doing but more so how many times he does it. He most likely is dealing with his own issues but he could just be joking around.
This is a completely fair point, but I think that the specific thing that was off-putting to him was that the player even gets any input at all. It'd be fine if it really were just her deciding, "I want to be more feminine and also be a detective", and in some cases it is that, but in others, it's not. Particularly the scene towards the end of the social link comes across as really gross. And, even given that she isn't trans, which canonically speaking, she's not, to be invoking text that specific is saying one thing just to say the opposite thing later on, and people, understandably, get a bit leery about that sort of thing.
@Lucca I could say a whole about this comment but wasting time at 4 in the morning probably wouldn't be the best way to spend me time so feel free in thinking what you do. I also suggest looking up the word "death of the author."
@Lucca the giant flaw with your reasoning is that the point of their characters wasn't about being gay or trans, it was about accepting that those superficial traits don't matter. They are who they are and who cares what anyone else has to say about them. Kanji is arguably bi, but in the end whether he is or not isn't the point. his character growth is that "i can be whoever i want and i don't care how others veiw me". His entire character is him learning to stop hiding who he is because hes afraid. Naoto is the big one here. Her entire charater is about sexism in society. And i already know you're argument about the sex change scene, because i've seen it 50 times already. The thing to know about shadows is that they are hyper exaggerations of the traits and ideas that they embody. Kanji's shadow acts flamboyantly gay because thats the logical extreme of his surpressed insecurities. Naoto's shadow's design and dungeon design show off prominently the childish immaturity she hides away, and the gender part comes from the idea of "if i was a man, being taken seriously as a detective would be easier." The logical unrestrained extreme of that mindset is getting a sex change, which is why her shadow pushes for it. And while it isn't as apparent in the game compared to the anime, the enervation status her shadow inflicts is making the characters older, showing that gender isn't the only change shes trying to force, but age as well. But besides wishing to be male so she could easily get taken seriously, she never once identifies as such. Only presenting as such to at least somewhat aleviate the sexism problem. She already is looked down on and not taken serioulsy by the cops due to her age, she doesn't need the sexism on top of it. But by the end she learns that she shouldn't care if they don't take her seriously, and she should just prove herself just the way she is so they have to acknowledge her. She says it herself. She never actually wanted to be a man, or even to become an adult. She just wanted to be taken seriously as a detective.
It took me until literally the final final boss of the game to realize I could sell materials to Daidara for some weapons.. Sold everything and just had to mash A for what must have been an aeon.
"High-concept" means easy to pitch/understand stuff like "You go into dungeons that represent people's minds." The confusing schlock you mention at 5:50 would be more low-concept.
Thats so interesting because my understanding of it was aligned with Kbash until you pointed it out and it really feels like wherever i hear the term high concept thats how its used.
@@Brandon-ix3po Yeah I heard it a lot until I looked it up lol, maybe the meaning of the phrase will change to what most people think it means in the future
It really is so nice to hear your thoughtful critique of the Persona games. It's so hard to find people talking about games that's not just memes, empty praise, or arguments about which girl is the best.
I believe the thematic point of social links getting more points if you have a persona of the matching arcana is that the persona is something that reflects the soul, so they are able to see something of themselves in you and therefore connect more strongly with you when you have that matching persona.
Don’t focus on maxing out all the social links on your first playthrough bro. I just spend the first playthrough of any Persona game doing things how I want and not worrying about getting all the social links maxed. I just focus on a few specific people I like and on maxing out my stats so that way new game plus is a lot easier. Since I maxed out all my stats In the first playthrough I can now spend almost all my time focusing on the social links making them a lot easier to max out without needing a guide.
@Lucca it’s not too long. Even after it ends you’re left wanting more. And a second play through on new game plus DOES offer plenty. There’s a couple of secret bosses that unlock and a new persona you can create only one new game plus. It’s also really fun to go back on a harder difficulty and do everything you couldn’t do before.
@Lucca there’s so much to do in this game that there’s no way you’re going to be able to do all of it in just one play though. So wtf do you mean a second play though has nothing to offer😂 that’s plain false
@Lucca 99 percent of people aren’t doing even close to all of the content on a first playthough, and even if you did everything aside from the new game plus stuff that still doesn’t change the fact this game has amazing reply value.
gotta say i really enjoy how well you articulate feelings towards certain aspects of the game that i could never explain in words myself. excellent video as always.
So here's my Criticisms: 1. Naoto doesn't want to be Male. She wants to be a Detective, however for her the "Requirements or Curriculum" to be a Detective, is to be at the Right Age in the Police Force & especially the Gender (this is heavily mentioned in the Game). The Problem is not the Writing, but how others forcefully want their Headcanons to be Canon. 2. Narukami (& any Modern MC in Persona) aren't Blank Slates. In a Narrative Perspective, the Writers have specifically chose who these MCs would interact & connect with. Also in terms of their Dialogue Options, it's mostly what the MCs are thinking to say, not really you. However in RPG Perspective, granted that you are able to choose their Dialogue, it may be your freedom to choose but what you fail to notice is that it's not always about being free to be yourself, but to realise in being free to be yourself but in the Right (& Honest) way possible. 3. Function of "Failure" in Games. Here's something that you fail to notice. Not every Game is designed for you to "simply win & complete". Every Game has their own Secrets & Surprises, so it's by your own efforts & desire alone to understand & to win or complete in said Games. In the end, it's your Fault for not realising how to play & use all of the Games tools & mechanics that it offers however through Failure, you will learn. In other words, it's okay to have Faults but in return you should learn and try again. Reminder, though Failure may make you loose precious time IRL, these Games by 1st function are to be played in your own Agenda.
I somehow managed to skip any information about this game when i played it in like 2016 and man did I love blind experiencing this game still my fave persona game.
Okay but I'm gonna defend my boy Yosuke now. I agree he starts off an a somewhat self-absorbed asshole, but over time, as things unfold, after facing himself and then DIGESTING it, he matures a LOT. Golden totally fucks over his character. So much. In the original, over time the skeevy or mean-spirited comments and actions tone down and eventually go away more or less. Yusuke also shows more and more that he's great at strategy and is actually a good right hand man to Yu, both functionally and personality-wise. Yosuke becomes very aware of his flaws and being with Yu and then the rest of the team makes him realize he wants to become a better, more mature person. It's a really beautiful maturation and it genuinely hurts me that the fandom makes him basically Junpei 2.0 but add more perv. He's not. Hell, there was a scrapped romance route WITH HIM. It was even DUBBED. Now, I don't agree with the pair and I suspect it's why it got scrapped because it then reduces the genuine friendship and trust Yu and Yosuke create.... but it also made the fandom go "lul, closet homo" on top of the "lol perv" which... fucking yikes. Yosuke was the first social link I maxed and I maxed him out fast specifically because his story was compelling. And I can tell a lot of people have not done his route OR played Golden only which is shit on many levels, fucking fight me.
I'm actually in the camp of Yosuke essentially being Junpei 2.0. Funnily enough I find Yosuke more whiny and for lack of a better word "pathetic", but I like him more than Junpei. Edit. Yosuke is also better at dancing.
"I imagine this is the ideal game for someone with no friends." Ahhahaha, P4 _definitely_ isn't one of my favorite games and I definitely have _so_ many friends. Nyehhehhehhehheeeeeeeeeeeehg...
I had the big first act twist spoiled to me by a fanfiction...WHILE I was simultaneously playing through the game. It pretty much ruined it for me. Especially since I never would have seen it coming on my own.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that you having a persona equipped from the arcana of the social link you are doing, helps you in the sense that they see a part of themselves in you. The characters usually have certain characteristics depending on the arcana that they have. How the Lovers girls are usually cheerful and happy and the Priestess girls are shy and insecure (at least at first). So in that aspect makes sense that if you have a persona that coincides the arcana of the social link you are hanging out, they can kind of relate with you more and that's why the give you boost in the relationship.
Nice review man but damn I've never seen anyone miss the point of so many key characters in a single story. Like you did my dudes Yosuke, Naoto and Adachi so dirty.
You consistently NAIL all of my thoughts on these games. Games I’m new to and growing to adore… and that I hate and gross me out and frustrate me endlessly. It’s forced my hand into engaging with the material more as fan fiction than the actual stories themselves. While playing 5 I thought that was my own silly brain, but I’ve found talking to people offline that this is the way a lot of people engage with these stories. I don’t know if it’s fair to judge a game by the story I co-wrote for it though!
I've really appreciated how thoughtful your critiques are. You've really found this balance between comedy and critique and with every video you blend them better and more creatively. It's amazing to see your style grow and mature, and thanks for giving this series in particular, a series that guided me through my adolescene, and early adulthood a real and fair look. I admittedly related to Yosuke's struggle the most, being this kid from the city and struggling to make meaningful bonds and wanting more, but feeling trapped by your surroundings. and I never really thought about the way he very much bullies Kanji because I chalked it up to typical mid 2000s jrpg humor. It wasn't funny to me, but it was definitely a 'roll my eyes' sort of moment. And coming back to this and seeing it you're right it was really fucked up. Point is this critique was very eye opening and extremely well done, and I look forward to seeing your thoughts on 5 as I played OG 5 in my last two years of college and royal as a 24-25 year old. Keep up the solid work Kbash and thanks for a real sick video my dude
I actually like how rushed and time crunch P4 is. It's just like real life where you miss a lot of things and there are limited time. I relate to that a lot, going through my highschool years and missing lots of opportunities and possible friendships because of studying and working. Definitely a plus and make future playthroughs more enjoyable.
I think I finally understand how I felt playing this game for the first time (just last year), it made me feel nostalgic in such a weird way considering I never played any jrpgs growing up. But now I understand its because the way the characters and their relationship with eachother are portrayed just feels so natural and real that I felt like a kid again. Then combine that was some of the core elements I loved in the og pokemon games (walking up to everything/everyone to see their dialogue or characters thoughts on something and the persona fusing mechanic) it was bound to make me fall in love.
The issue is that he also criticizes the game for being somewhat "anti trans" because "Naoto has to accept she's a girl because that's the truth", but that was never the game's message. Her character is about gender roles, not being able to be her true self because it doesn't line up with what people expect of her gender, so she tries to be something she isn't, and that only makes things worse. I get that nowadays stories like that can come off as insensitive because of how much they overlap with actual trans stories, but to say the game implied "you can't be trans because you have to be your true self" is wrong.
@@NikiYKN You can disagree on your readings of the story, but he brought all that up to say that, while the game was never intended to be any sort of allegory for Trans people, that seeing the media in modern day is naturally gonna spark that comparison. And just because someone mentions a perspective doesn't mean they condone it or agree with it. He brought up multiple interpretations. Also, as someone who played P4 when it launched in 2008 as a high schooler making me the target demographic in the original launch period with the original game, the conversation of Trans rights and Trans activism was pretty much nonexistent in the US, let alone the Eastern world. I feel like a lot of folks forget this didn't release in 2012, it released originally in 2008.
@@Nocturne989 I agree with all of that, it's just that, at least by the way he descibred it, it made it seem like he didn't understand that Naoto never actually wanted to be a guy, which is why she had to "accept her true self". Again, I get how nowadays this can come off as insensitive and be read differently, but to say it reads like a "anti trans message" is a bit much, specially since it ignores how this is all part of a different subject involving gender roles.
@Lucca Because the sex change is to show just how far Naoto will go to be the "ideal detective." One of the biggest aspects of Naoto's arc is how much she represses because she wants to be the "ideal detective" image she has believed all her life, and so she isn't rejected. An ideal detective is big and mature, an ideal detective is a dashing man, etc. Basically she is trying to compensate for what she lacks, out of fear that she will just be tossed away otherwise. This is why her accepting herself as both a woman and child is so great, because instead of living for the people that will kick her down, she chooses to live for her friends and those that truly support her. People who won't put those pressures of being the "ideal detective" on her.
Very nice. This is the most thoughtful and engaging analysis of Persona 4 I've come across so far. I especially like the point about how the theme of "accepting yourself" is undercut by not being able to be oneself during the social links (or even to avoid the bad end). 😁
Here we go again, Kanji isn't gay and Naoto isn't trans. (Got nothing against those topics btw, I'm gay myself; but those characters just aren't that) Still don't get how people misinterpret something that's told so clearly in the story. Kanji's troubles are based around MASCULINITY, and feeling forced to be an stereotypical male "Uhh i like muscles I'm very tough can't have feelings" sort of stereotype, because he doesn't actually like that, he likes to sew, crocheting and making cute stuff, he has a soft spot for children and animals; yet he feels that if he shows that side of himself to the world, everyone will THINK he's gay, when he isn't. That's why the TV showed him as an oversexualized gay man, because he doesn't want to be seen that way. Same thing with Naoto, she's always been ok with being female. She doesn't ever experience dysphoria (not that every trans person goes though that, but it's easier to portray it that way) or ever questions her own gender. Both Naoto and her shadow are very clear as to why they want to be perceived as males, to be taken seriously as a detective; because sexism "haha wahmen cant do work make me sandwich I literally have no braincells". And on that note, Shadow Naoto is actually more keen on making herself OLDER, because her detective peers perceive her as a baby, and thus don't take her seriously, that's also tied to the status ailments her shadow can inflict to your party. Still agree about Naoto's "date" tho, she still is more comfy with neutral clothes, so her using the female outfit.. still is out of character and weird.
The thing about Naoto’s character is that 1. Like you mentioned the game was written at a time when these issues weren’t exactly a focus or even well known about. So putting it under a modern lens is going to always offer skewed results. 2. I don’t like when people say Naoto’s decision to remain a woman is anti trans or offensive to the struggles and ideas trans people go through. Partly because of the modern lens thing but also because that’s saying that there aren’t people who change their mind, and realize what they thought they were isnt how they feel now. It’s an equally valid outcome for a person/character going through these issues and simply viewing the fact that someone didn’t choose to follow through with their transition because they realized despite what they thought at one time isn’t what they feel now as anti trans or offensive in my opinion that’s the real offensive outlook. Not saying that you meant any of this btw I just feel like it needs to be mentioned when talking about Naoto’s character in today’s social climate. Loved the review man, looking forward to P5!
Ok man, gonna have to hard disagree on the Naoto situation. Don't get me wrong, Atlus absolutely has a problem handling LGBT matters in their games. That one scene in P3 is garbage, the walking sterotypes in 5 were garbage, and the whole Catherine thing was one huge flustercluck. BUT I think you are misinterpreting P4 quite a bit, like bending over backwards a little bit. Now, I haven't played Golden, so I don't know if it re-writes anything significant in Naoto's arc, so I'm going by the original release. To put it simply, I don't think Naoto is trans and was never meant to invoke the trans experience. I don't blame anyone for thinking she does at a glance, but the game explicitly goes a different way. It is said in the game that the reason Naoto started dressing and presenting as male was because the cops and general adults she worked with in her detective gig didn't respect her for being a girl and a child, so she started presenting as a boy and talking way older than her age. It's why her shadow acts like a kid playing with toys, because the core of her issue is her dealing with her insecurities relating to her maturity, not gender. After her dungeon she stays with the boyish look because it's what she's confortable with but she's more secure about admitting her age and gender, which is why she doesn't mind when everyone else starts using female pronouns around her. And the christmas event, which you portray as her "bucking to pressure"? It's just her doing something cool to her boyfriend? It really caught me off guard of how sinister you took that. You do realize there are couples out there who will dress differently or don costumes for intimate moments with their partners, right? You know that can be just an innocent thing, right? It is her initiative and after that event she goes back to what she's confortable with, cuz she was just doing something nice for her boyfriend for one night. It really doesn't need to be a whole thing, my man. And I get it, trans people are starved for representation, I will not deny that and I will not blame people for this. But when I see people projecting this identity onto Naoto that is not suported by the actual story being told, it comes off as... Well, I'm not gonna use the word "misgendering" cuz I'm not a 100% versed on the trans experience, much as yourself, but it is a similar feeling. It feels off. Feels like you're forcing her to be someone she isn't. Like, again, I understand that trans people still have it rough out there. It sucks that it's like that, it shouldn't be. But sometimes I feel that in our zelous supports of our trans friends we tend to forget that there are more ways of engaging with gender than cis and trans. Crossdressing can be a thing by itself. Drag quees are still a thing, and it kinda sucks that I've legit seen people claim drag queens are transphobic. There are non-binary people. There are gender fluid people. There is a whole spectrum of genders out there and even us, who want to be progressive, can sometimes be guilty of some narrow mindedness of our own. In any case, I apologize for the huge text, but I wanted to get that off my chest. I hope this doesn't come off as angry or hateful, cuz it's absolutely not my intention. I still enjoy your content, even this video, and your points of view are valid, even if I don't agree with all of them. Thank you. Have a good one.
Kanji's Not Gay nor is Naoto Trans, in fact saying that straight up denies there Arc... tho....and the Yousuke stuff I kind of get considering when and where it was made: 2007 in Japan. 2007 in Japan was nowhere near as Progressive as 2021
I actually really like Yosuke all flaws included he reminds me of an ex friend i had, i miss you bro.. please come back :( I also feel like you only focused on the bad aspects of the charater and not how human he is, also hes a child what did you expect? I had tons of friends who made fun off gay people as a kid i dont endorse it but also realize at the time they were kids and imature plus it was a difrent time.
Naoto isnt trans or wanting to be the male gender its that she felt that being both a child and a girl would limit her career but the whole point is she accepts who she is and empowers herself but which is why her social link ends with her dressing as a girl. a trans persona character and look into that would be cool and all but she isn't that
also i think its pretty unfair to expect them to handle such a topic with care when they weren;t even attempting to handle that issue they were trying to handle a completely different one. how they handeled the issue of wanting to be something that your gender wouldn't typically do can be debated i feel they did it okay but accepting yourself as another gender or feeling trapped as one gender in anothers body just isn't whats at play here
Commenting months later, and I think a lot of people completely missed what he was actually saying about Naoto. I don't completely blame people since it is a frequent interpretation, but what was actually being said is that although he realizes that Naoto being trans was not intended whatsoever, some parts are still iffy since. If we really thought that Naoto was trans or that Kanji was gay (with that last one not really being talked about anyway), then I don't think he would've explicitly given a bunch of reasons that conflict with that interpretation.
Kanji is not gay, he just likes cute things and has a more feminine side to him so he overcompensates by being overly masculine, dying his hair as a show. Naoto is not trans, she just cross-dresses to be taken seriously in a male dominant field that is the police (in her case being a detective) by looking/pretending to be a man. They(everyone, not just kanji or naoto) have a hard time to come to terms with who they are, face your true-self and all that, cause of how others might perceive them and so the themes of the game. Other than that, good video, got interested in your life in korea.
I think that's kinda oversimplifying it a bit. Granted, some of it might be mild script changes making it more/less explicit than it was in the Japanese, but there are definitely a variety of points where Kanji seems to take interest in men. Not to say that he's gay, just to say that was a thing. The point of his social link and what not was to demonstrate that that wasn't his *problem*. Like you say, his problem was his insecurity in his masculinity and feeling like he needed to overcompensate. I don't think the takeaway from that is "Kanji is not gay", I think the takeaway was "Whatever Kanji is, it doesn't matter". You've gotta be trying really hard to look the other way to not acknowledge that the sexuality thing was at least a part of the real issue, his insecurity with his masculinity. As far as Naoto goes, it's a bit more muddy. The main thing that comes to mind is a point where she says outright that her being a woman is incompatible with her *own* ideal image of a detective, which is presumably why, even when the cat's out of the bag, she continues to stick with the more masculine vibes. Granted, that doesn't necessarily make her trans, but that part has nothing to do with how she's perceived or how much other people respect her. In both Naoto and Kanji's case, when the language and behavior is that loaded, those reads aren't at all unreasonable, even if they happen to be cannonically incorrect, especially in Kanji's case where it's left deliberately vague. Naoto is harder to argue of course. She calls herself a girl after all, plain as day, but if you wanted to be really uncharitable, you could make a case that her environment, and potentially the authors, just aren't affirming. I don't tend to think this, but bits like her asking the MC if she should be more feminine, and then giving them the option to say yes, do smack a bit strange.
I gotta say it is quite interesting seeing someone dislike Adachi pretty much for all the reasons I end up actually liking him as an antagonist, to me he seems sort of realistic in a way that only gets strengthened as time goes on
When a corner of memories started playing during the ending cutscene I wept like a literal child. The piano I'd heard so many times while starting up the game playing while all of your friends run along the train saying their goodbyes. It just tore straight through me right to my heart. P4 has it's issues but the things it gets right, it knocks out of the fucking park.
Good lord the amount of people that didn't actually listen to the words you said in this video just to go "UH ACKSHUALLY NAOTO ISN'T TRANS" Kbash said, in the video, that he knows this, several times, and how it wouldn't have been a thing to bring up back then, it just leads to an uncomfy reading nowadays. Please stop trying to tell him he misinterpreted things when he didn't and actually listen to the words being said instead of flying off the handle cus someone brings up these issues at all. Anyway, fantastic video dude, thank you for your work
It is kinda weird how a game about being honest with yourself instead of pretending to be someone you're not due to expectations, also then turns around and asks you to only say and do the things people like or want for brownie points.
Persona 5 suffers from the same problem a bit, no? Except this time your character is a bit edgier/cooler and carries an equal amount of snarky options. And that game's about masks and freedom.
I totally get why you would have been a little frustrated with how the points system for the social links and stats work while playing through the game. I think the game feels worse to some people who are trying to do everything in a single go (especially of you're on a deadline for a video), but your social stats and personas do carry over into NG+, so I don't think it was 100% intended for players who aren't deliberately challenging themselves to do everything in 1 playthrough to use their time perfectly.
Solid! I will say, a lot of the social sim problems regarding the necessity of a guide to get everything done do solve themselves on a second playthrough, when your social stats are already maxed, you have plenty of time, and you know ahead of time which things to prioritize. That said, I do think you hit the nail on the head as far as the game being uninterested in your input. It doesn't bother me as much with things like dialogue choices' effects on social links and what not, but as far as the endings go, you're basically severely punished for picking wrong. At least with the bad ending vs. the good ending it telegraphs pretty heavily that you missed something, but you can just completely miss the True ending. If I'm being charitable, it's on theme for the game being a mystery. A mystery should have correct answers after all, but some of the dialogue choices are so specific while at the same time being non-descript that it can just feel like you have to already know to figure it out. Spoilers... I think it would be much better if the whole Namatame bit had multiple ways to not throw him into the TV instead of the one specific string of options, or if the intent of the options was a bit more clear. Like "Somethings bothering me?", is it that you're about to do a murder? What the hell does that mean.
Nah. Naoto isn’t anti trans. Anybody who think so should get their heads out of their ass. Naoto sends a beautiful message we all should take to heart. You are fine as you are. Accept yourself. If you don’t like something then fix it and no I don’t mean gender. That’s never an issue and those who think it is have psychological issues they need a therapist to resolve. I mean weight, teeth, etc. diet, exercise, brush, floss, etc. Naoto is as she should be and we all can learn from her.
I hate how they did yusuke dirty because he was such a cool but goofy dude early on. Like he was a chill dude who was a bit clumsy but when it came down to it, he knew when to be serious. And then Kanji shows up and Yusukes a bigot and when Rise shows up, he's a huge perv. Why couldn't the writers make him chill thought the game dude? Made me drop persona 4 because yusuke was my fav
Yosuke is a highschooler boy living in a Rural town in 2010's Japan. I've heard much worse "pervy" and "bigoted" shit from normal highschoolers back in the day. I don't get why are you surprised for for. Tolerance is a relatively new thing that is not spread out everywhere.
Regarding the gas station attendant: It's not much, but I wanna mention that when you shake their hand, in the original PS2 version, the rumble feature in the controller is triggered. When someone pointed that out to me years later I thought it was super cool because I hadn't even thought about it.
I believe P4G on PC will do the same if you have a controller plugged in but don't quote me on that
@@ellagage1256 i think it did, its been a while since i played it on pc
@@risu2312 can confirm. Even on a ps5 controller, it vibrates
Can't say for sure because I use a PS4 controller and the only way for me to play with PS buttons is to NOT make steam turn my PS4 controller into an Xbox one, since I use my controller on Bluetooth, and the DS4 drivers ONLY works with vibration if you use it on a cable, the controller never vibrates for me xD
@@ellagage1256 it did
"I imagine this is the ideal game for someone with no friends to pick up."
Damn, KBash, don't have to do me like that
Ironically, as someone that have lots of relationships, but no friends, I hated this game with a passion after playing it, mostly because Persona 3 message resonated more with me and had been spoiled right before I started playing, and this felt like a HUGE turning point for the series. The hate has dwindled with the years, but it's still my least favorite Persona game till this day, at least story wise.
Fr tho 😂
@@ParalyzedHorse95 3 is fantastic
Try the DS tactical rpg smt, its pretty cool
@@SeaSerpentLevi Devil Survivor? Nah. There's something about the aesthetic that I don't like. Must have to do with the main characters looking like teenagers. I played Strange Journey, but for whatever reason I lost interest in the last zones. My save file is still siting there in my emulator, collecting dust.
@@ParalyzedHorse95 naah i can definately understand.
I actually like the character art for that game, maybe because they remind me some manga i used to read like bakuman, but all in all definately a matter of taste/context. There are moments where im not too into that strong anime vibe, that i also get turned off by the overused tropes.
But my problem with the game was actually that initially i didnt like tactics lol, and it was actually one of the games that made me like it. The story gets pretty good too in therms of character development. And the ost.. well were talking megaten! Always a treat :]
If you ever feel like givin it a chance despite the artstyle, hope you have fun. o//
Really the main flaw of P4 is that when you go into battle you don't hear "BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY" over a blaring horn riff before a guy starts rapping about how his rhymes cause property damage.
that is until you remember that you DO get to hear: "i FACE. OUT. i HOLD. OUT. i reACH OUT TO THE TRUUUUTH" over a sick bass riff
Thats the main point of praise
BAYBEHBAYBEHBAYBEHBAYBEH!!!
to be fair the killer being ultimately childish in his reasoning is kind of the point
he never really grew up as a person due to his isolation and essentially ended up an entitled manchild
its tragic because it didnt need to be that way, someone could've given him a good reality check early on but there was no one to
Adachi is also a competent cop during his first few years on the job. Finding his efforts amounting to being sent to the boonies must've snapped the poor guy.
I have to assume he just doesn't enjoy this archetype, perhaps because it is overused in Japanese media, not that it's inherently bad. Just remember it's all opinion (I like Adachi as well).
@@JadenRockz99 Never thought about that angle, really like it though.
exactly. the whole point of his character is that he's a wannabe 4chan jokar edgelord with too much ego and not enough self awareness. he's stunted, and has been sitting in the pits of his bitterness and despair for fuckin' years. the ethos of the game is, ultimately: you can be like yu, or you can be like adachi. pick yu. live life, make friends, don't wallow in despair and bitterness.
@@sevirkenevans It's why his S-Link starts as Jester.
Jesters are kept around to be entertainment for the king. If we look at it at another angle, it could be Adachi's own self-reclection of himself.
He wanted to be something in society, but instead society made him the joke.
I still think that the writer’s intentions with kanji’s and naoto’s character were simpler than people read into because even though kanji might’ve been questioning his sexuality when he met naoto, that wasn’t the point anyway, and he ultimately came to the conclusion that it’s ok to be strong and have feminine hobbies, and to just not care about what others say about him (since he was bullied for it), and he also still likes naoto even after she revealed to everyone she was a girl. And about naoto, she said herself that she grew up idolizing a male detective from her favorite book and it was her dream to be just as good of a detective as him and her family of detectives and combined that with the fact that being a woman in that line of work, especially in Japan, is very difficult, she thought the only way people would take her seriously is if she pretended to be a boy (even though they ended up not taking her seriously because of her age). But the whole point of her character arc was that she realized that she didn’t need to change herself for the sake of her job or other people, and in the end, she accepted herself as both a woman and a detective.
this is exactly how i read into it. not trying to pretend Atlus is free of sin with any of their writing and negative stereotyping but these two specific cases seemed way more simple than looking through a modern lens back at the writing and digging deeper into the gender identity of two characters. Not to discredit that view either, but I just don't think that was how the story was meant to be interpreted.
@@sevirkenevans ya honestly I think people have kinda warped what the original intentions of these arcs were and have made it so much more complicated and worse. I’m not saying that these views aren’t wrong or K Bash is dumb or anything like that but I feel that these stories were meant to be much simpler.
@Lucca You're reading too much into it. It's much more simpler than that.
Not everything needs to be about trans and everything associated with them.
@Lucca I mean, it is what it is.
You don't have to live in my world. You're already living in one with that attitude.
@Lucca "What was even the point of the gay bathhouse and the "sex change operation" if not for the shock and mockery?"
Because their dungeons and shadow selves represent their fears in an exaggerated way. Kanji is afraid of becoming a stereotype, the stereotype of gay men that used to appear on "variety" shows after hours in Japan. His personal development consists of acknowledging that he can behave and like things that are less traditionally masculine and still be a man. The chance that he may be attracted to other guys only adds to his insecurity.
Naoto is more straightforward. She wants to become a respected detective, but she is a woman in a world of men, so of course she asks herself if attaining her ideals wouldn't be easier if she was a man too.
"The more sinister implication is that it's okay to have "feminine interests" and to be a tomboy in your youth, but not to be gay or trans."
Is it? It seems to me like you're putting words in the writers' mouths. The game never says (or even implies) that you shouldn't be gay or trans. I agree that the headcanon that Kanji is gay and Naoto trans is more interesting and might be more satisfying for us... but they aren't.
The power of friendship ending with Izanami is in the original Persona 4. Golden only added Marie, her dungeon, some extra Adachi stuff, and the epilogue where you revisit Inaba.
"What're you doing?"
"Watching a fifty minute video about a game I've played 10 times."
"Watching a fifty minute video about a game I've played for 5 hours"
@@DaviddeBergerac weak
@@RaspyCh The dungeons don't play well with my ADHD I'm sorry
@@DaviddeBergerac wdym, you dont need to stress out abt dangeons
@@DaviddeBergerac wdym, you dont need to stress out abt dangeons
The conclusion at the end of this video is so apt for me personally. Maybe I'm getting too personal for game review comment section, but Persona 4 Golden is a game that I played at a really dark time in my life, and the experience left me with so much that I genuinely believe that it helped me get out of it. Maybe I'm not strictly "better" but at least it feels like I'm trying, and the emotions I felt while playing this game is something I'll hold close to myself for the rest of my life. I love this game with all my heart, and I'm happy that other people are experiencing the same things I did when I played it all those years ago.
Keep up the good work dude.
Naoto isn't trans she was based off of Sexism how woman in Japan get it rough in the workspace
THANK YOU!!!! I’m not sure if he’s looking at it in the social sphere of 2021 but i literally said the same
She literally accepts who she is and continues to do what she wants despite that being a "male occupation".
If that's not empowering then I don't know what is.
And I'm not even a feminist and I think that many completely missed the point of her arc simply to say this 2008 game doesn't understand 2021 issues.
@Lucca Jesus Christ, you're a broken record aren't you?
@Lucca Shut up for the love of god
@Lucca There are like more than 10 people explained this to you in this comment section and you still ask???
Persona 4 has something over Persona 3, which is the cast spending time together. You get to witness their dynamics and relationship. In Persona 3 I always felt a disconnect between the characters.
It’s mostly because of the fact that you as the MC are joining into a group who already were doing see’s before you got here VS the investigation team who you as the player founded so a lot of those dynamics are centered around you vs issues that existed and at a time that was the point of 3 because their all dormmates and more often than not dormmates Aren’t always your friends just associates and in a dorm where you all fight to save the world your more co workers who can be friends. Plus a lot of characters go through problems that genuinely require someone that isn’t a silent protagonist to get them through vs 4 where the bulk of the problem is solved in their dungeon
The thing is, the relationships in 4 are a lot shallower than in 3. 4 focuses more on developing IT as a group while giving very little room to let the characters shine on their own, leading to less defined and simpler dynamics overall eg. Yosuke's and Chie's relationship never progresses further than 'friends that take shots at each other.' P3 focused more on fleshing out everyone individually and it means the group may feel more fractured at first but it also means they are given opportunities to form stronger more multi-faceted bonds with certain members on SEES and makes the moments later on when they have grown to become a strong group feel a lot more impactful than they would have been otherwise.
@@Skallva yea cuz like I mentioned earlier there’s a lot of moments in 3 that requires someone who isn’t a silent character to actually give characters proper closure
I'd argue that persona 3 was more realistic.
The friend group hung out to a degree but you had your mitsuru's and Shinjiros
where they preferred to be alone because one was sheltered and they other felt like a monster.
And when the certain characters like Mitsuru and Yukari and Fuuka and Junpei and so on got to talking-
It was strong. It was a group that grew closer with time and learning more about each other.
No issue with 4 but it felt weird that Rise and Naoto just instantly fit into the group and any and all
issues never happened with each other. Yosuke literally creeps on his his friends and treats kanji like a thrope and it
never gets adressed, but the persona 3 cast had issues with each other at times and that's real imo.
I love my best friend but there are times we get into fights over petty things and apologize or get angry because
we might be hurting ourself and the other notice. P3 is flawed but real P4 is too perfect.
As someone who has live in a dorm with team values, Persona 3 actually gets it right. Everyone is a team, but not everyone is BFF's.
This game litterally saved me from depression and suicide back in 2015, just giving me a new life, friends and purpose felt amazing for a videogame.
Actually the Naoto trans thing is just an idea people have forced based on their interpretations of the social link's story, Naoto is canonically and does view herself as female, she tries to act male due to the way women are discriminated against in many aspects of Japanese society, especially in the work force. Naoto's story is about her accepting that she can easily be discriminated against due to things she can't control like her age or sex but that she shouldn't let that get to her, it was never about her "wanting to be male" is was about her accepting herself for who she is and not letting how others view her effect her, even the wiki says this "When she confronts her Shadow, she comes to the realization that her true desire is not in becoming an adult or a male, but to be respected for who she is as a person, including accepting herself as is."
Fucking thank you.
Oh thank god someone said it
@Lucca Well, I didn't know about the castration thing, but one reason that scene was in the game may have been for aesthetic reasons since it fit w/ certain rooms found in a whole bunch of movies which is partially what the dungeon takes inspiration from (I know it's tokusatsu but I feel it likely also takes some small cues from spy films). Though it could also be a commentary on "doing whatever it takes to accomplish one's goals" or something like that. Another plausible reason could just be that the developers wanted to add some "stakes" to make the player imagine all the possible horrible things that could happen if they fail, in a similar vein to what they did w/ P5, I mean who really knows
Because shadows are a HYPER EXAGGERATION of the ideas and feelings that the people are surpressing. The idea of "being taken seriously as a detective would be easier if i was a man." Is one such idea, an idea that got hyper exaggerated by her shadow just like it's childishness. The "sex change scene" is the logical extreme of that mindset. She never veiwed herself as a male, she thought that the only way to get taken seriously was to be male. She then realized that she could be a great detective regardless because her gender doesn't actually have anything to do with that.
@@unnamed_protagonist right on the money. Another example is saying that you don’t like cheese. In reality you may really dislike it but in reality you’re able to keep that in check and not let that be a problem. But with your shadow he absolutely despises it and wants it off the face of the earth. The shadow takes these parts of peoples personalities and basically gives them no restraint.
Love the video but I was a little sad to hear that you think the animations are lacking for the persona summoning in terms of the glasses. It's not about the glasses it's about the tarot cards they use to summon their persona, and all of your party members summon it in unique ways as well, Yu crushes it, Yosuke, spins into it with his kunai, Chie kicks it, Yukiko uses a fan to smash it, so on and so forth. Just wanted to throw that out there. I feel like 4 has just as much flair and personality when it comes to the battles.
yeah i was really weirded out that he missed that. it's not the glasses you're supposed to focus on, it's the actions themselves. on that note: one thing i always found cool is that, while everyone else destroys their card with their weapon, yu is the only one who physically grabs his card and crushes it with his bare hand. to me this is kind of a foreshadowing of his characterization of being this tough hardcore badass type character who's also really cool headed and stoic.
@@malum9478 chie is pretty close to be fair
Naoto was never trans. She disguised herself as male because nobody would take her seriously in the the detective field. The game is very clear about that.
Right, this was commentary on a male-dominated work environment where Naoto wanted to feel respected. I get that there are trans themes...but it just feels like a misread of what information the game is presenting us.
Persona 4 and people thinking Naoto is Trans. Name a more iconic duo
I mean, he does say in the vídeo that atlus never intended to say that Naoto is a trans character, just that nowadays that arc can be correlated to these social issues.
agree but if there are people that feel good by seeing naoto as trans you shouldn't shame them for it
sometimes how a person feels about a character is more important than what the author intended the character to be read as
I never understood why people get that idea, especially when Kanji and Naoto are made to be mirrors of each other.
Both of are a defined gender, but have hobbies or act in a way that can be seen as something defined by the opposite. They are both aware of it, and are aware of how they want to identify, but simply want people to seem them as themselves, not as the stereotypes society wants to see them as.
So for once my tokusatsu knowledge is going to be useful.
Naoto's dungeon is a clear reference to Dai Shocker, the villain group of Kamen Rider, who kidnapped the main character and tried to turn him into a weapon, but instead he escaped after they modified him and decided to fight against Shocker.
Naoto's shadow is also referencing multiple properties like Kikaider and Astroboy.
Kikaider is especially prescient as a lot of his interpretations over the decades have been about a hero who faces discrimination while trying to understand his own humanity.
I think this is interesting because it tells me that Naoto hopes that coming out of the discrimination and identity issues will either make them their best self, i.e. Kamen Rider, a virtuous hero who came out of his trials at Shocker (the sexist and misogynist justice system in Japan that would make them feel lesser because of their birth sex) and uses their gained powers to defend and fight for those that this system would exploit or ignore, or they will become like Kikaider, a much more tragic figure that will never feel accepted by the people they defend until it becomes a struggle to remember why they bothered in the first place.
Being a trans person myself I get the whole "being made into a monster" thing, it can be both empowering and disparaging. I choose not to look too literally at the Naoto's dungeon because I never thought that was the point.
I knew Persona 4's review was gonna be long, but dang...this is a literal movie
Just needs to add 20 minutes and it'll reach the length of your average Hollywood movie.
dude the part about how RPGs nowadays don't do the roleplay part is so true
This may just be me but as a boy I empathize with Kanji's story. I questioned my sexuality a few times from my desire to knit, crochet, making warm fuzzy shit. I always that the questioning part comes from a misunderstanding of what it means to be a man and "if you're not a man you're a woman" type thought. When you don't know what a man is, or what it "means to be one" you tend to question if you even are one. At least that's what it was for my adolescent mind at the time.
Gotta disagree with your take on the trans story. I think its a totally valid story to tell. Besides that, this is a great video.
Edit: So apparently the character isn't even trans. So that's even more damning if you ask me. I'll go the good faith route here and assume that whole tangent was a result of a misread of the story mixed with a preconceived distaste for the poor treatment of that group.
Even if she were trans, though, I don't think it's "anti-trans" to tell a story of somebody questioning, then deciding to stick to who and what they were born as.
@Lucca then again? Who cares.
@Lucca The sex change operation scene was because Naoto was so sure that she needed to be a man to be taken seriously in her line of work. Her whole arc is about being a young woman in a male dominated line of work. She hid who she really was, and denied it because no one ever take her seriously as a woman and a young detective. The end of her arc is accepting being a woman, and wanting to be the best she could be, as herself, without hiding it. It had nothing to do with trans anything.
@Lucca Honestly, I typically lean towards misunderstanding before malice in these situations. I like what Tony Branch had to say about it, but at the end of the day I wasn't on the writing team and have no idea what the intention behind that arc was. All I know is that the events of the story don't fully fit the theme of "anti-trans" and thusly shouldn't be considered such. It may indeed read as such from a particular point of view in the subtext, but it's not a theme that's present in the text. I hope you get what I'm saying here.
He said that it reads as transphobic today and not that it wasn’t understandable at the time. Even now the culture in japan is still largely ignorant of trans issues. Personally I understand the idea behind her character, where the point was coming to accept who you are instead of trying to appeal to outside pressure.
I think the larger issue is the misrepresentation of the issue in reality. Ignorance of trans issues or not, the reality is that people who are committed enough to have a genital reassignment surgery are incredibly unlikely to not be transgender. The rate that happens is less than 1%. It’s just the reality that people who spend a long time questioning their gender and seek medical intervention almost always do if they can, and almost always never regret doing so. This isnt a 50/50 scenario. In japan it’s a long running trope that those who do explore their gender often end up “accepting” their birth gender, and since it’s so heavily skewed that way despite the facts it just kind of sucks to see it here.
In this story in particular I don’t think it would have fit if the ending was her fully committing to being a man. It didn’t seem like it was set up that way and it wouldnt have been a payoff because thats basically where she started. It would have been better if they just didn’t go so hard about it. I don’t remember how much they included about her struggling between suppressing her feminine interests and forcing masculine ones, but I think it would have been more palatable if that was the highlight throughout the story.
@@Smolharuharu I'm really against the idea of a story being "off limits" due it it being politically incorrect or otherwise offensive to anybody's sensibilities. If we go that route, then suddenly any fantasy world that uses magic is not allowed because witchcraft is bad in many communities.
The representation angle doesn't really work for me either, since, again, it only ever applies to specific groups. Nobody cares that lots of religious denominations are under represented; and often poorly depicted when they are present. Nobody cares *unless* it's the group they associate with.
I get that all this isn't exactly what you're saying but I think its worth acknowledging since it's such a widespread double standard.
“I’m critiquing the [GOLDEN EXPERIENCE]”
Honestly I like youske I get the whole argument with him being essentially a homophobic womanizer. I’m more or less ok with it because he’s a teenager in Japan in 2012. It’s more or less a product of the times (I get that it doesn’t make it entirely right though)
I think Yosuke is the member of the group that behaves the most like an actual teenager. Most teenagers around the world are sexist and homophobic, but many grow out of it as they get older. Hell, I used to have pretty dumb views about gender and LGBT issues myself when I was a teenager, until I discovered I was just ignorant and/or misinformed.
@@mambu3630 yes yosuke is a super realistic and relatable character. I hate when people dumb him down to being homophobic or comedy relief. He’s so much more than that.
@@thegoodeboy2016 Fuckin this. I would also get it if he was a closeted homosexual, but even though that didn't happen, he's still pretty spot on when it comes to a kid in 2011. Here in the Bahamas it's still like that. People need to remember the time this game game out
@@PersTG The time the game came out honestly doesn’t mean anything, if anything it just shows how the game aged poorly, Yosuke was pretty bad, and if they ever did a full fledged remake of P4 cutting out all that crap would probably be a good idea
@@Maya-ls3ky censoring or altering is rarely good. Especially in this case.
Its age hasn't changed. Go listen to how teenage boys talk to each other now in 2021. It's the same crap
“Hey Kanji are you still GAY?”
I screamed 😂
Yosuke: just to be sure you still gay?
Confirmed yosuke browses kiwifarms.
@@PathBeyondTheDark Let's be completely honest here, most people who play Persona are probably doing it for the waifus and couldn't give a shit about anything they need to use their brain to understand.
*Edit because I realize the initial comment sounded unnecessarily harsh -
Obviously a lot of people can understand the deeper concepts the games present but there are a lot of younger guys that primarily play these games and take the dating sim approach first and the thinking about anything else part last. It's also not just the Persona games, series like Fire Emblem have the same problem.
Your points on Naoto and Adachi really makes this feel like you’re one of the people who play persona games but just take everything at face value
This man is gonna have fun with P5. Especially Yusuke.
And the multiple romance options with adults much older then the protag. Oh an also the sexual harassment of a character by friends for laughs after she was sexually harassed by a teacher, but that ties into Yosuke.
@@PathBeyondTheDark When Ann gets leered at when she doesn’t like it she completely wrecks their shit and stands up for herself, when before with Kamoshida she would’ve just been complacent. When she likes it/okay with it, she laughs and playfully jabs Ryuji.
It’s still not great, but it’s not as bad as people make it out to be. You can make the argument that the guys shouldn’t be as pervy, but do real sexual harassment survivors who have moved passed that point in their life not like being looked at in that way by those who aren’t their abuser? Are they not allowed to be okay with it?
Man, I'll always hate the takes of "Kanji is gay and Naoto is trans" because they're effectively mirroring the same outside mentality that gave those characters their complexes in the first place.
In a way it's good since it proves that the writers were right about how ignorant people would read those characters.
My only comment would be kbash repeatedly bringing up role play in reference to this game but not many jrpgs that I know of encourage/allow for actual rp the best you ever get in jrpgs is a blank slate character that doesn't flavor the events of the story much themselves. I would say it would be a more valid critique of the subgenre as a whole than p4 specifically.
I honestly try role playing more as the protagonist rather than myself if that makes sense. Like when I play persona 2 I don’t see my self I see Tatsuya. When I play p5 I see Ren.
@@VincentEternal Because you're not supposed to project yourself on Tatsuya.
@@PlayerUnoYT well ya I get that. But he’s still silent and while his default name is still Tatsuya you can still name him whatever you want. So while I don’t do it there is still an attempt to make him a self insert for the player.
I agree, whenever I play an RPG I feel like I'm walking a tightrope of abstract and specific dialogue options more than... Playing a choice driven game.
I guess that's my fault for wanting to experience all the content?
The part about Shu Nakajima got me. It's something I already knew from the bottom of my heart, but having someone just openly and so nicely put it in words, it hits a lot harder.
Your Persona videos have been really good to watch back to back, can't wait to see P5.
Really loved this video as always K-bash, but i don't really agree with the Naoto part. Although you made good points about when it comes to atlus using overused and unfunny jokes against trans people and gender Identity I don't really think that's the case with her (aside for the fetishization part wich I can agree with to a certain extent) : the thing is Naoto dresses and acts like a male because she wants to be a detective...something that at the time was considered a job only a man can do wich means that her, as a woman might not be recognized for her work just because of her gender, wich is why she wants to be seen as a male. When you think of it, nowadays women are still being overlooked for certain jobs so I think they generally get Naoto and her gender identity crisis the wrong way. Although i tend not to defend Persona games when they abuse this tasteless trope let's not forget that this is japan we talking about after all, and working envoirements can be either inaccessibile or legit hell for women.
EDIT: I'm really sorry if there are some grammar mistakes but English it's not my first language so I hope you'll understand...if not then please bear with, it's not like this is the first comment adressing Naoto anyway and I'm pretty sure there's people here that explained it better than I did😅
Yes. It's an issue of professionalism, not gender identity.
@@escalatingbarbarism5096 you summed it up in the best way possibile
@Lucca Crossdressing to achieve some professional goal is not being trans. The film Mrs. Doubtfire is not a trans allegory, for example. Neither are the films White Chicks or She's the Man.
Naoto pretended to be male because she felt it would legitimize her work in the field of private investigation. Her shadow is her fear that she'll never be a good detective unless she literally becomes a male, and her actual skills don't matter. It's internalized sexism. The same way Kanji happens to have interests that could be viewed as feminine, and his shadow is thus his insecurity about his own masculinity made manifest, not a representation of him being in the closet.
And yes, Japanese humor can sometimes be the opposite of what the West might consider politically correct. That's typically how different cultures operate.
@Lucca the sex change operation is used to show how far would Naoto go in order for her to be accepted as a detective since they wouldn't consider her as such if they knew she was a girl as I said in my comment...therefore none of the other things you say in my opinion really apply to the Naoto discussion. Nontheless i don't want to minimize what you said about the hell trans people live in Japan unfortunately when it comes to social issues like these they are pretty narrow minded i'll give you that; but in the moment you understand that her whole character progression is about not being able to pursue her career because she is a woman and not about wanting to be considered a male no matter how much she tries, that's as far as it goes, it's just that.
@@escalatingbarbarism5096 exactly
Regarding Naoto, I don't think her arc is "anti-trans," because Naoto's issue--much like Kanji's--is that she feels she "must" be a man (in Kanji's case, gay) due to her interests. They both conflate their identity with their personality, opposite ends of being trapped by binary gender roles.
Naoto wants to be a detective, and feels that because she is a woman, she can't do that.
Kanji like sewing and girly shit, and feels that because of that, he certainly must be gay.
Some people really don't want to hear it, but Naoto was never trans and Kanji was never gay, and that's entirely the point of their storylines. They were made to *feel* like they *had* to be trans/gay because of the expectations set upon them. Conceptually this is no different from any of the other party members, every single one is struggling with being true to themselves in the context of wider society.
Ultimately, the lesson they learn as well as the message the game puts forth, is that you don't have to be anything or anyone other than you. Human traits are not a transitive property, A=/=B=/=C. Kanji doesn't have to be gay just because he likes sewing. Naoto doesn't have to be a man just because she yearns for a position in a male-dominated career. It really can be that simple.
I think maybe a lot of people think that they really are gay/trans in part due to a wish for representation, as well as possibly being used to "confused about gender/sexuality" stories generally coming to that conclusion. But you can be confused about yourself and end up finding that the answer was actually how you were before you started questioning all along. That's why it's confusion--both options are possible.
"WHAT THE FUCK?? LETS GOO" was the reaction i had when i saw this go up. Keep doing you KBash!
12:04 to 13:40
See this is why I like the P3 cast alot more personally.
The p3 gang are so layered in their flaws and personalities.
They were a difunctionally group that had issues with each other and
became friends through a shared problem of the midnight hour. They can get annoyed with you as well.
And the amazing part was their persona evolved through interacting with each other; and don't depend
on you to make them better people. It's one of the things I miss about persona and wish they would bring back.
Like make their third tier personas evolve through player action after.
I respect whichever persona game you like, but Persona 3 really did feel so much more alive
in terms of character. I couldn't agree more they felt very thropey
Perhaps I am biased since in my experience good friends are collection of very different individuals that each have specific quirks that make them stand out. Yet its those quirks that make you appreciate them. This is why the P3 cast feels less realistic based on my experience. I did not know that many angsty individuals, people who worked together got along instantly or not at all, not over time.
@@PathBeyondTheDark Angsty? Nah see you already lost. that's not the overall goal for the characters; and if you pay attention they grow out of that as the game goes on. Look at ultimax, these people are doing dream jobs, looking forward to the future. Starting "angsty" Heck I hate to call it that. Let me explain:
the P3 cast are kids going to war with magical gods, they could die at any time it's hard to just stay constantly positive through that.
and they're more realistic cause how many people do you know with shitty parents who want you to be a certain way and going out with your friends is the only way to escape their overbearing personalities. And hell you may never get along with them and become estranged.
Or fear losing loved ones and work hard to protect the little you do have? Heck this persona has four orphans and they try to make the best of their situations.
Or the friend who has a deadbeat father that hits other family and they hate them and want to do something bigger than themselves, bigger than themselves and dreams of living in a better world.
The friend that doesn't know what they want out of life and what they wanna do after school, they fear losing their friends?
Look I'm glad you like p4 cause it was closer to what you experienced but man p3 cast has more than just "angsty" characters. They start off distrustful of each other, and slowly grow into a group of friends, a found family, people who want to always be together cause their lives aren't exactly the most glamorous.
It's more personable and realistic to me because I had to earn and work to gain friendships and not all my friends liked each other. And even when they did like each other still saw flaws in each other.
P4's cast for me like kbash said is way too just unrelatable, they become friends way too fast. I mean come on you may like p4's cast but like in p3 when Junpei is creepy the girls call him out and get annoyed or ignore him.
Yosuke gets creepy and you never get a chance to really call him out, just join in on the fun. I agree with Kbash on this one. And many times he's krass to Kanji or to the girls who all just kinda let it happen.
Idk personally I think the p3 cast is more fleshed out as a group of real friends and they have issues and laugh and cry and help each other without the player sometimes. They're more than just "angsty"
P4 Golden was literally the reason I got a Vita. I knew nothing about the series, I just wanted the special edition case and ended up completely and absolutely engrossed in it through my Junior and Senior years in high school
I can only describe this review in the same way Dojima describes his garden:
"Great video."
Naoto is not trans! She's a woman who wants to be taken seriously in an occupation dominated by men, so she dresses like a boy and pretends to be one in order for people to not treat her poorly for her sex. And Kanji isn't gay. He simply has hobbies and interests that seen as feminine in Japan, and was afraid that people would think that he wasn't masculine if they knew he had these interests. He later gets over it by the end of his storyline.
This is definitely the worst problem when it comes to murder mystery settings. Once the big bad is shown you bet you're about to be spoiled on who it is. Which is a shame because P4 has some good plot twists that would more or less make me actually believe that those false ones were actually the culprit.
I've had the same problem too. Mind you, the game still delivers the real culprit with stellar writing, enough to be engaging despite already knowing who he was, but I still can't shake the feeling that I would've loved this game even more if I hadn't been spoiled before
I had a slightly different experience with spoilers - for context i played p4g for the first time in February this year and it was recommended by a friend who tried incredibly hard to spoil it - luckily i was able to avoid spoilers so the twist of who the killer was and to this day im surprised i pulled that off
@@Powerstrike368 you are one lucky son of a gun. I got spoiled by the memes.
The memes, Jack!
@@JohnDoe-gt3jr tbh its probably because i bought the game impulsively so i wasnt part of the fanbase before and i wasnt looking at the fanbase while playing it so i got lucky
I can be in no way objective about this game, I think we all have THAT story, it could be a show, a book, a game or a movie. That story that hit you at the perfect time in the perfect way that sculpted your character around it. Persona 4 Golden was that for me, I love this game, I love its characters, Never More makes me cry every time I here it. It has problems to be sure and as a game I know 5 is stronger, but 4G just has that place in my heart where I could never view it as anything other than a masterpiece.
Agreed.
Persona 4 came into my life at a time where I was questioning everything, completely adrift in life. I had no idea who I was (my "true self") or what I really valued anymore. And as stupid as it may sound, P4G drove home how important the bonds that connect you to others really are.
No, I can't summon a god to kill demons. But I can draw on the love and support of my friends when I need to fight my own demons -- it's through the people I care about that I can grow and adapt, no matter how hard life might get.
No, it isn't perfect. The dungeons are boring (not as bad as Tartarus, but close) and I wish the fallout of your social links were a little better integrated into the main game. (I want Chie to have dinner with Yu, Dojima, and Nanako, goddammit)
But love is blind, and I really do love this game. When Nevermore comes on shuffle, I cry like a baby. And I wouldn't want it any other way.
I mean I notice old people hate on the obnoxious or edgy/pervy characters. But holy shit, its the most realistic depictions of what being a teen is. I think they hate on it cause they know thats what they were like when they were little shit heads.
I got into Persona over the past year and have played through 3-5 and many of the characters and the way they act feel similar to my friends and other teens I know.
Exactly. Its like hello yes youre an adult and not a perv. But please understand if a literal teenager doesnt know any better or refuses to act that. They are still developing.
@@KyngD469 not an excuse
@@yeoungduck8782 No one needs an excuse for morality shifting faster than age
I wouldn't mind Yosuke and Teddie if they had an arc where they became normal over time and grow as people or became normal during serious moments but they're just bad the whole game
Naoto was never trying to be or was meant to be trans. She was pretending to be a male because that fit the image of what she saw as a respected and cool detective. And nobody would really accept a kid female detective. Not because she wanted to be a guy. Actually, saying she was trying to trans would actually be offensive, since if she was, she had some pretty shallow reasons.
As a long time viewer of your content this is quite a video.
Especially the part concerning naoto being implied to want to be a male because no one would take her seriously due to her wanting to be a detective which us commonly shown as a male occupation.
You say you are basically pro women and how her accepting that she is female and catering to the player is a fetishization of her character yet she completely accepts who she is and being a female detective or whatever.
I'm not feminist or whatever but that to me comes off as empowering as she goes on to do what she wanted despite being a woman breaking the mold of it being a "male occupation".
While I can somewhat see your point of her maybe wanting to be transgender or a male I think you might be looking at it way too deep.
Also I highly doubt that this 2008 game really cared about those social issues since they weren't a " big thing" like they are now.
Considering this was made in Japan too also probably adds to that as well.
Yosuke being a "bigot" to me comes off as him doing what we've all done teasing and constantly poking fun at someone for being different and at least to me it comes off as projecting as he had a lot of stuff taken out of his character but besides that I find it immature and funny not so much at what he's doing but more so how many times he does it.
He most likely is dealing with his own issues but he could just be joking around.
This is a completely fair point, but I think that the specific thing that was off-putting to him was that the player even gets any input at all.
It'd be fine if it really were just her deciding, "I want to be more feminine and also be a detective", and in some cases it is that, but in others, it's not. Particularly the scene towards the end of the social link comes across as really gross.
And, even given that she isn't trans, which canonically speaking, she's not, to be invoking text that specific is saying one thing just to say the opposite thing later on, and people, understandably, get a bit leery about that sort of thing.
@Lucca I could say a whole about this comment but wasting time at 4 in the morning probably wouldn't be the best way to spend me time so feel free in thinking what you do.
I also suggest looking up the word "death of the author."
@Lucca the giant flaw with your reasoning is that the point of their characters wasn't about being gay or trans, it was about accepting that those superficial traits don't matter. They are who they are and who cares what anyone else has to say about them.
Kanji is arguably bi, but in the end whether he is or not isn't the point. his character growth is that "i can be whoever i want and i don't care how others veiw me". His entire character is him learning to stop hiding who he is because hes afraid.
Naoto is the big one here. Her entire charater is about sexism in society. And i already know you're argument about the sex change scene, because i've seen it 50 times already. The thing to know about shadows is that they are hyper exaggerations of the traits and ideas that they embody. Kanji's shadow acts flamboyantly gay because thats the logical extreme of his surpressed insecurities. Naoto's shadow's design and dungeon design show off prominently the childish immaturity she hides away, and the gender part comes from the idea of "if i was a man, being taken seriously as a detective would be easier." The logical unrestrained extreme of that mindset is getting a sex change, which is why her shadow pushes for it. And while it isn't as apparent in the game compared to the anime, the enervation status her shadow inflicts is making the characters older, showing that gender isn't the only change shes trying to force, but age as well. But besides wishing to be male so she could easily get taken seriously, she never once identifies as such. Only presenting as such to at least somewhat aleviate the sexism problem. She already is looked down on and not taken serioulsy by the cops due to her age, she doesn't need the sexism on top of it. But by the end she learns that she shouldn't care if they don't take her seriously, and she should just prove herself just the way she is so they have to acknowledge her. She says it herself. She never actually wanted to be a man, or even to become an adult. She just wanted to be taken seriously as a detective.
It took me until literally the final final boss of the game to realize I could sell materials to Daidara for some weapons.. Sold everything and just had to mash A for what must have been an aeon.
If it makes you feel any better, I only realized that Dojima was a social link the day before the game ended during my very first playthrough lol
Same dude. I depended on the weapons I would get in the dungeons. Lol
"High-concept" means easy to pitch/understand stuff like "You go into dungeons that represent people's minds." The confusing schlock you mention at 5:50 would be more low-concept.
Thats so interesting because my understanding of it was aligned with Kbash until you pointed it out and it really feels like wherever i hear the term high concept thats how its used.
@@Brandon-ix3po Yeah I heard it a lot until I looked it up lol, maybe the meaning of the phrase will change to what most people think it means in the future
I don't agree with all of your points, but I respect the viewpoint. Solid video as always
Honestly just shoutout to DankyStankSwankyMank, the two kids in suits joke to make an adult was great too.
It really is so nice to hear your thoughtful critique of the Persona games. It's so hard to find people talking about games that's not just memes, empty praise, or arguments about which girl is the best.
I believe the thematic point of social links getting more points if you have a persona of the matching arcana is that the persona is something that reflects the soul, so they are able to see something of themselves in you and therefore connect more strongly with you when you have that matching persona.
Don’t focus on maxing out all the social links on your first playthrough bro. I just spend the first playthrough of any Persona game doing things how I want and not worrying about getting all the social links maxed.
I just focus on a few specific people I like and on maxing out my stats so that way new game plus is a lot easier. Since I maxed out all my stats In the first playthrough I can now spend almost all my time focusing on the social links making them a lot easier to max out without needing a guide.
That’s basically the best way to play the games, unless you like or want to see everything at once.
@Lucca it’s not too long. Even after it ends you’re left wanting more. And a second play through on new game plus DOES offer plenty. There’s a couple of secret bosses that unlock and a new persona you can create only one new game plus. It’s also really fun to go back on a harder difficulty and do everything you couldn’t do before.
@Lucca there’s so much to do in this game that there’s no way you’re going to be able to do all of it in just one play though. So wtf do you mean a second play though has nothing to offer😂 that’s plain false
@Lucca yeah no that’s not true and I call bullshit. There’s amazing replay value with this game.
@Lucca 99 percent of people aren’t doing even close to all of the content on a first playthough, and even if you did everything aside from the new game plus stuff that still doesn’t change the fact this game has amazing reply value.
gotta say i really enjoy how well you articulate feelings towards certain aspects of the game that i could never explain in words myself. excellent video as always.
So here's my Criticisms:
1. Naoto doesn't want to be Male. She wants to be a Detective, however for her the "Requirements or Curriculum" to be a Detective, is to be at the Right Age in the Police Force & especially the Gender (this is heavily mentioned in the Game).
The Problem is not the Writing, but how others forcefully want their Headcanons to be Canon.
2. Narukami (& any Modern MC in Persona) aren't Blank Slates.
In a Narrative Perspective, the Writers have specifically chose who these MCs would interact & connect with. Also in terms of their Dialogue Options, it's mostly what the MCs are thinking to say, not really you.
However in RPG Perspective, granted that you are able to choose their Dialogue, it may be your freedom to choose but what you fail to notice is that it's not always about being free to be yourself, but to realise in being free to be yourself but in the Right (& Honest) way possible.
3. Function of "Failure" in Games.
Here's something that you fail to notice. Not every Game is designed for you to "simply win & complete". Every Game has their own Secrets & Surprises, so it's by your own efforts & desire alone to understand & to win or complete in said Games.
In the end, it's your Fault for not realising how to play & use all of the Games tools & mechanics that it offers however through Failure, you will learn. In other words, it's okay to have Faults but in return you should learn and try again.
Reminder, though Failure may make you loose precious time IRL, these Games by 1st function are to be played in your own Agenda.
What personality traits do the MC's have?
I somehow managed to skip any information about this game when i played it in like 2016 and man did I love blind experiencing this game still my fave persona game.
Okay but I'm gonna defend my boy Yosuke now. I agree he starts off an a somewhat self-absorbed asshole, but over time, as things unfold, after facing himself and then DIGESTING it, he matures a LOT. Golden totally fucks over his character. So much. In the original, over time the skeevy or mean-spirited comments and actions tone down and eventually go away more or less. Yusuke also shows more and more that he's great at strategy and is actually a good right hand man to Yu, both functionally and personality-wise. Yosuke becomes very aware of his flaws and being with Yu and then the rest of the team makes him realize he wants to become a better, more mature person. It's a really beautiful maturation and it genuinely hurts me that the fandom makes him basically Junpei 2.0 but add more perv. He's not. Hell, there was a scrapped romance route WITH HIM. It was even DUBBED. Now, I don't agree with the pair and I suspect it's why it got scrapped because it then reduces the genuine friendship and trust Yu and Yosuke create.... but it also made the fandom go "lul, closet homo" on top of the "lol perv" which... fucking yikes.
Yosuke was the first social link I maxed and I maxed him out fast specifically because his story was compelling. And I can tell a lot of people have not done his route OR played Golden only which is shit on many levels, fucking fight me.
I'm actually in the camp of Yosuke essentially being Junpei 2.0. Funnily enough I find Yosuke more whiny and for lack of a better word "pathetic", but I like him more than Junpei.
Edit. Yosuke is also better at dancing.
"I imagine this is the ideal game for someone with no friends."
Ahhahaha, P4 _definitely_ isn't one of my favorite games and I definitely have _so_ many friends. Nyehhehhehhehheeeeeeeeeeeehg...
There’s also the accomplice ending where you figure out it’s adachi and let him slide
He probably doesn't want to acknowledge its existence
Naoto has that edge for sure though, let's not forget she suggested icing namatame, "Only people have human rights." matches that tone.
I had the big first act twist spoiled to me by a fanfiction...WHILE I was simultaneously playing through the game. It pretty much ruined it for me. Especially since I never would have seen it coming on my own.
How are you gonna murder my boy adachi like that?! Dude cmon you butchered his character so bad
Yea this guy completely overgeneralized his character really hardcore missed the point adachi made
@@Gael-x999 im kinda disappointed since i usually enjoy his reviews
Waifu? Rise.
Best girl? Nanako, obviously.
My favorite character? Ebihara Ai.
I can’t wait to see your persona 5 review
I am a proud Adachi simp, I have 0 regrets about it
Cabbage
How the hell do you not have, just, all of the subscribers. It's a crime. Really wish I had an iota of your talent for words.
Kbash reviews are endlessly rewatchable.
Instant Favorite. We appreciate your hard work so much Bash!
Can’t wait to watch this after work!
God I was waiting for this review and now I get to see it on my birthday
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that you having a persona equipped from the arcana of the social link you are doing, helps you in the sense that they see a part of themselves in you.
The characters usually have certain characteristics depending on the arcana that they have. How the Lovers girls are usually cheerful and happy and the Priestess girls are shy and insecure (at least at first).
So in that aspect makes sense that if you have a persona that coincides the arcana of the social link you are hanging out, they can kind of relate with you more and that's why the give you boost in the relationship.
Amazing review like usual! You deserve way more subs bro. You’re so close to 100k! I hope you reach it by the end of the year.
Nice review man but damn I've never seen anyone miss the point of so many key characters in a single story. Like you did my dudes Yosuke, Naoto and Adachi so dirty.
You consistently NAIL all of my thoughts on these games. Games I’m new to and growing to adore… and that I hate and gross me out and frustrate me endlessly.
It’s forced my hand into engaging with the material more as fan fiction than the actual stories themselves. While playing 5 I thought that was my own silly brain, but I’ve found talking to people offline that this is the way a lot of people engage with these stories. I don’t know if it’s fair to judge a game by the story I co-wrote for it though!
I've really appreciated how thoughtful your critiques are. You've really found this balance between comedy and critique and with every video you blend them better and more creatively. It's amazing to see your style grow and mature, and thanks for giving this series in particular, a series that guided me through my adolescene, and early adulthood a real and fair look. I admittedly related to Yosuke's struggle the most, being this kid from the city and struggling to make meaningful bonds and wanting more, but feeling trapped by your surroundings. and I never really thought about the way he very much bullies Kanji because I chalked it up to typical mid 2000s jrpg humor. It wasn't funny to me, but it was definitely a 'roll my eyes' sort of moment. And coming back to this and seeing it you're right it was really fucked up. Point is this critique was very eye opening and extremely well done, and I look forward to seeing your thoughts on 5 as I played OG 5 in my last two years of college and royal as a 24-25 year old.
Keep up the solid work Kbash and thanks for a real sick video my dude
I’ve really come to look forward to your videos man! Good stuff 😋
I actually like how rushed and time crunch P4 is. It's just like real life where you miss a lot of things and there are limited time. I relate to that a lot, going through my highschool years and missing lots of opportunities and possible friendships because of studying and working. Definitely a plus and make future playthroughs more enjoyable.
I think I finally understand how I felt playing this game for the first time (just last year), it made me feel nostalgic in such a weird way considering I never played any jrpgs growing up. But now I understand its because the way the characters and their relationship with eachother are portrayed just feels so natural and real that I felt like a kid again. Then combine that was some of the core elements I loved in the og pokemon games (walking up to everything/everyone to see their dialogue or characters thoughts on something and the persona fusing mechanic) it was bound to make me fall in love.
He explicitly stated that Naoto was not intended to be a trans character. Yall are so in depth on his video but apparently missed that part.
The issue is that he also criticizes the game for being somewhat "anti trans" because "Naoto has to accept she's a girl because that's the truth", but that was never the game's message. Her character is about gender roles, not being able to be her true self because it doesn't line up with what people expect of her gender, so she tries to be something she isn't, and that only makes things worse. I get that nowadays stories like that can come off as insensitive because of how much they overlap with actual trans stories, but to say the game implied "you can't be trans because you have to be your true self" is wrong.
@@NikiYKN You can disagree on your readings of the story, but he brought all that up to say that, while the game was never intended to be any sort of allegory for Trans people, that seeing the media in modern day is naturally gonna spark that comparison. And just because someone mentions a perspective doesn't mean they condone it or agree with it. He brought up multiple interpretations. Also, as someone who played P4 when it launched in 2008 as a high schooler making me the target demographic in the original launch period with the original game, the conversation of Trans rights and Trans activism was pretty much nonexistent in the US, let alone the Eastern world. I feel like a lot of folks forget this didn't release in 2012, it released originally in 2008.
@@Nocturne989 I agree with all of that, it's just that, at least by the way he descibred it, it made it seem like he didn't understand that Naoto never actually wanted to be a guy, which is why she had to "accept her true self". Again, I get how nowadays this can come off as insensitive and be read differently, but to say it reads like a "anti trans message" is a bit much, specially since it ignores how this is all part of a different subject involving gender roles.
@Lucca
Because the sex change is to show just how far Naoto will go to be the "ideal detective." One of the biggest aspects of Naoto's arc is how much she represses because she wants to be the "ideal detective" image she has believed all her life, and so she isn't rejected. An ideal detective is big and mature, an ideal detective is a dashing man, etc. Basically she is trying to compensate for what she lacks, out of fear that she will just be tossed away otherwise. This is why her accepting herself as both a woman and child is so great, because instead of living for the people that will kick her down, she chooses to live for her friends and those that truly support her. People who won't put those pressures of being the "ideal detective" on her.
Very nice. This is the most thoughtful and engaging analysis of Persona 4 I've come across so far. I especially like the point about how the theme of "accepting yourself" is undercut by not being able to be oneself during the social links (or even to avoid the bad end). 😁
Here we go again, Kanji isn't gay and Naoto isn't trans. (Got nothing against those topics btw, I'm gay myself; but those characters just aren't that)
Still don't get how people misinterpret something that's told so clearly in the story.
Kanji's troubles are based around MASCULINITY, and feeling forced to be an stereotypical male "Uhh i like muscles I'm very tough can't have feelings" sort of stereotype, because he doesn't actually like that, he likes to sew, crocheting and making cute stuff, he has a soft spot for children and animals; yet he feels that if he shows that side of himself to the world, everyone will THINK he's gay, when he isn't. That's why the TV showed him as an oversexualized gay man, because he doesn't want to be seen that way.
Same thing with Naoto, she's always been ok with being female. She doesn't ever experience dysphoria (not that every trans person goes though that, but it's easier to portray it that way) or ever questions her own gender. Both Naoto and her shadow are very clear as to why they want to be perceived as males, to be taken seriously as a detective; because sexism "haha wahmen cant do work make me sandwich I literally have no braincells". And on that note, Shadow Naoto is actually more keen on making herself OLDER, because her detective peers perceive her as a baby, and thus don't take her seriously, that's also tied to the status ailments her shadow can inflict to your party.
Still agree about Naoto's "date" tho, she still is more comfy with neutral clothes, so her using the female outfit.. still is out of character and weird.
The thing about Naoto’s character is that
1. Like you mentioned the game was written at a time when these issues weren’t exactly a focus or even well known about. So putting it under a modern lens is going to always offer skewed results.
2. I don’t like when people say Naoto’s decision to remain a woman is anti trans or offensive to the struggles and ideas trans people go through. Partly because of the modern lens thing but also because that’s saying that there aren’t people who change their mind, and realize what they thought they were isnt how they feel now. It’s an equally valid outcome for a person/character going through these issues and simply viewing the fact that someone didn’t choose to follow through with their transition because they realized despite what they thought at one time isn’t what they feel now as anti trans or offensive in my opinion that’s the real offensive outlook.
Not saying that you meant any of this btw I just feel like it needs to be mentioned when talking about Naoto’s character in today’s social climate. Loved the review man, looking forward to P5!
@★ Lucca ★ oh my fucking god please stop copy pasting this easily disproven argument under half the comments in this video
Gratz on your channel doing so well that your patreon readout is a full four minutes
Your pfp makes me uncomfortable
@@mizzix thank you
Yosuke got his balls hit 4 times in the beginning of the game. Nobody asked if he was okay
I was like another "Persona 4" analysis then i saw it was Kbash I was like oh okay im there
Ok man, gonna have to hard disagree on the Naoto situation. Don't get me wrong, Atlus absolutely has a problem handling LGBT matters in their games. That one scene in P3 is garbage, the walking sterotypes in 5 were garbage, and the whole Catherine thing was one huge flustercluck. BUT I think you are misinterpreting P4 quite a bit, like bending over backwards a little bit.
Now, I haven't played Golden, so I don't know if it re-writes anything significant in Naoto's arc, so I'm going by the original release.
To put it simply, I don't think Naoto is trans and was never meant to invoke the trans experience. I don't blame anyone for thinking she does at a glance, but the game explicitly goes a different way. It is said in the game that the reason Naoto started dressing and presenting as male was because the cops and general adults she worked with in her detective gig didn't respect her for being a girl and a child, so she started presenting as a boy and talking way older than her age. It's why her shadow acts like a kid playing with toys, because the core of her issue is her dealing with her insecurities relating to her maturity, not gender. After her dungeon she stays with the boyish look because it's what she's confortable with but she's more secure about admitting her age and gender, which is why she doesn't mind when everyone else starts using female pronouns around her.
And the christmas event, which you portray as her "bucking to pressure"? It's just her doing something cool to her boyfriend? It really caught me off guard of how sinister you took that. You do realize there are couples out there who will dress differently or don costumes for intimate moments with their partners, right? You know that can be just an innocent thing, right? It is her initiative and after that event she goes back to what she's confortable with, cuz she was just doing something nice for her boyfriend for one night. It really doesn't need to be a whole thing, my man.
And I get it, trans people are starved for representation, I will not deny that and I will not blame people for this. But when I see people projecting this identity onto Naoto that is not suported by the actual story being told, it comes off as... Well, I'm not gonna use the word "misgendering" cuz I'm not a 100% versed on the trans experience, much as yourself, but it is a similar feeling. It feels off. Feels like you're forcing her to be someone she isn't.
Like, again, I understand that trans people still have it rough out there. It sucks that it's like that, it shouldn't be. But sometimes I feel that in our zelous supports of our trans friends we tend to forget that there are more ways of engaging with gender than cis and trans. Crossdressing can be a thing by itself. Drag quees are still a thing, and it kinda sucks that I've legit seen people claim drag queens are transphobic. There are non-binary people. There are gender fluid people. There is a whole spectrum of genders out there and even us, who want to be progressive, can sometimes be guilty of some narrow mindedness of our own.
In any case, I apologize for the huge text, but I wanted to get that off my chest. I hope this doesn't come off as angry or hateful, cuz it's absolutely not my intention. I still enjoy your content, even this video, and your points of view are valid, even if I don't agree with all of them.
Thank you. Have a good one.
Kanji's Not Gay nor is Naoto Trans, in fact saying that straight up denies there Arc... tho....and the Yousuke stuff I kind of get considering when and where it was made: 2007 in Japan. 2007 in Japan was nowhere near as Progressive as 2021
I actually really like Yosuke all flaws included he reminds me of an ex friend i had, i miss you bro.. please come back :(
I also feel like you only focused on the bad aspects of the charater and not how human he is, also hes a child what did you expect? I had tons of friends who made fun off gay people as a kid i dont endorse it but also realize at the time they were kids and imature plus it was a difrent time.
Naoto isnt trans or wanting to be the male gender its that she felt that being both a child and a girl would limit her career but the whole point is she accepts who she is and empowers herself but which is why her social link ends with her dressing as a girl. a trans persona character and look into that would be cool and all but she isn't that
(or literally just the plot of mulan)
also i think its pretty unfair to expect them to handle such a topic with care when they weren;t even attempting to handle that issue they were trying to handle a completely different one. how they handeled the issue of wanting to be something that your gender wouldn't typically do can be debated i feel they did it okay but accepting yourself as another gender or feeling trapped as one gender in anothers body just isn't whats at play here
I really hope the allusion to yiik means there may be a video about it eventually.
Naoto and Chihiro from Danganronpa are both not really trans.
chihiro is far more debatable. naoto isn't tho
@@malum9478 wasn't chihiro bullied into disguising as a girl, and was really uncomfortable with it?
Commenting months later, and I think a lot of people completely missed what he was actually saying about Naoto. I don't completely blame people since it is a frequent interpretation, but what was actually being said is that although he realizes that Naoto being trans was not intended whatsoever, some parts are still iffy since. If we really thought that Naoto was trans or that Kanji was gay (with that last one not really being talked about anyway), then I don't think he would've explicitly given a bunch of reasons that conflict with that interpretation.
Kanji is not gay, he just likes cute things and has a more feminine side to him so he overcompensates by being overly masculine, dying his hair as a show. Naoto is not trans, she just cross-dresses to be taken seriously in a male dominant field that is the police (in her case being a detective) by looking/pretending to be a man. They(everyone, not just kanji or naoto) have a hard time to come to terms with who they are, face your true-self and all that, cause of how others might perceive them and so the themes of the game. Other than that, good video, got interested in your life in korea.
I think that's kinda oversimplifying it a bit.
Granted, some of it might be mild script changes making it more/less explicit than it was in the Japanese, but there are definitely a variety of points where Kanji seems to take interest in men. Not to say that he's gay, just to say that was a thing. The point of his social link and what not was to demonstrate that that wasn't his *problem*. Like you say, his problem was his insecurity in his masculinity and feeling like he needed to overcompensate. I don't think the takeaway from that is "Kanji is not gay", I think the takeaway was "Whatever Kanji is, it doesn't matter". You've gotta be trying really hard to look the other way to not acknowledge that the sexuality thing was at least a part of the real issue, his insecurity with his masculinity.
As far as Naoto goes, it's a bit more muddy. The main thing that comes to mind is a point where she says outright that her being a woman is incompatible with her *own* ideal image of a detective, which is presumably why, even when the cat's out of the bag, she continues to stick with the more masculine vibes. Granted, that doesn't necessarily make her trans, but that part has nothing to do with how she's perceived or how much other people respect her.
In both Naoto and Kanji's case, when the language and behavior is that loaded, those reads aren't at all unreasonable, even if they happen to be cannonically incorrect, especially in Kanji's case where it's left deliberately vague.
Naoto is harder to argue of course. She calls herself a girl after all, plain as day, but if you wanted to be really uncharitable, you could make a case that her environment, and potentially the authors, just aren't affirming. I don't tend to think this, but bits like her asking the MC if she should be more feminine, and then giving them the option to say yes, do smack a bit strange.
I gotta say it is quite interesting seeing someone dislike Adachi pretty much for all the reasons I end up actually liking him as an antagonist, to me he seems sort of realistic in a way that only gets strengthened as time goes on
"You form this interesting bond with these characters" "I keep forgetting Rise exists"
"I bet she eats puzzle pieces when no one is looking"
"I bet she eats puzzle pieces" LOL
When a corner of memories started playing during the ending cutscene I wept like a literal child. The piano I'd heard so many times while starting up the game playing while all of your friends run along the train saying their goodbyes. It just tore straight through me right to my heart.
P4 has it's issues but the things it gets right, it knocks out of the fucking park.
*otw to sleep*
*new kbash video*
Sleep can wait
Good lord the amount of people that didn't actually listen to the words you said in this video just to go "UH ACKSHUALLY NAOTO ISN'T TRANS"
Kbash said, in the video, that he knows this, several times, and how it wouldn't have been a thing to bring up back then, it just leads to an uncomfy reading nowadays. Please stop trying to tell him he misinterpreted things when he didn't and actually listen to the words being said instead of flying off the handle cus someone brings up these issues at all.
Anyway, fantastic video dude, thank you for your work
Could not wait for this review. You did not disappoint.
It is kinda weird how a game about being honest with yourself instead of pretending to be someone you're not due to expectations, also then turns around and asks you to only say and do the things people like or want for brownie points.
Persona 5 suffers from the same problem a bit, no? Except this time your character is a bit edgier/cooler and carries an equal amount of snarky options. And that game's about masks and freedom.
You can choose which ever options you want, you just aren't getting the benefits of choosing the correct ones
I totally get why you would have been a little frustrated with how the points system for the social links and stats work while playing through the game. I think the game feels worse to some people who are trying to do everything in a single go (especially of you're on a deadline for a video), but your social stats and personas do carry over into NG+, so I don't think it was 100% intended for players who aren't deliberately challenging themselves to do everything in 1 playthrough to use their time perfectly.
My man Kbash is down right eloquent!
I don't think I was supposed to laugh at 23:11 when the text option went to chie for a split second but I sure did
Solid!
I will say, a lot of the social sim problems regarding the necessity of a guide to get everything done do solve themselves on a second playthrough, when your social stats are already maxed, you have plenty of time, and you know ahead of time which things to prioritize.
That said, I do think you hit the nail on the head as far as the game being uninterested in your input. It doesn't bother me as much with things like dialogue choices' effects on social links and what not, but as far as the endings go, you're basically severely punished for picking wrong. At least with the bad ending vs. the good ending it telegraphs pretty heavily that you missed something, but you can just completely miss the True ending.
If I'm being charitable, it's on theme for the game being a mystery. A mystery should have correct answers after all, but some of the dialogue choices are so specific while at the same time being non-descript that it can just feel like you have to already know to figure it out.
Spoilers... I think it would be much better if the whole Namatame bit had multiple ways to not throw him into the TV instead of the one specific string of options, or if the intent of the options was a bit more clear. Like "Somethings bothering me?", is it that you're about to do a murder? What the hell does that mean.
Nah. Naoto isn’t anti trans. Anybody who think so should get their heads out of their ass. Naoto sends a beautiful message we all should take to heart. You are fine as you are. Accept yourself. If you don’t like something then fix it and no I don’t mean gender. That’s never an issue and those who think it is have psychological issues they need a therapist to resolve. I mean weight, teeth, etc. diet, exercise, brush, floss, etc. Naoto is as she should be and we all can learn from her.
I hate how they did yusuke dirty because he was such a cool but goofy dude early on. Like he was a chill dude who was a bit clumsy but when it came down to it, he knew when to be serious. And then Kanji shows up and Yusukes a bigot and when Rise shows up, he's a huge perv. Why couldn't the writers make him chill thought the game dude? Made me drop persona 4 because yusuke was my fav
Yosuke is a highschooler boy living in a Rural town in 2010's Japan. I've heard much worse "pervy" and "bigoted" shit from normal highschoolers back in the day. I don't get why are you surprised for for. Tolerance is a relatively new thing that is not spread out everywhere.
Yusuke is in Persona 4?