Yay my favorite character and bestest boy!

Your perspective definitely got across & u were very balanced & eloquent! Nice job :D

You did him more justice than his defenders and haters tbh

7:47 Well, I heard that Magician might mean rejection of traditions, and in his text messages Yosuke definitely rejects the rules of grammar

I find it weird to romance yu and yosuke when their personas are kinda like father and son

I'll leave that to you

@@HidinginPrivate I'll have a quick stab: it was a visual hint to his self-loathing, his self-doubt. Despite his efforts to be outgoing and friendly, he thinks he's rubbish. I like Yosuke, and can't help feeling sorry for him, despite his faults.

@@basiliosz However, it also goes into the lore of shadows, as this is the yosuke after his shadow fight, so he accepts how bad he is, which shows how happy he is now, and him throwing the trash can away shows his growth as now he is trying to have better self-esteem

Exactly, the brains of the group are the three thinking in who the killer was: Yosuke, Yu and Naoto. I think too that he would like to be the leader, he wants to play the role of the hero after all but he knows that is too much for him. I read somewhere a great comment saying that Yosuke is justs like his father, a manager in charge of all the team just as his father does with Junes and Yu is the CEO. The IT has two leaders: one make plans and the other executes them, Yu and Yosuke always take decisions together.

When playing, I got the impression that he's okay playing second fiddle because of what he learned from facing his shadow: that the 'hero' mentality was partly an artifice and that the responsibility of actually being the leader is too much; so he lets Yu take point. It's an admission that his desire to "be a hero" didn't come from a *good* place inside him. He's the idea guy, and Yu trusts him and challenges him when necessary. That's my favorite thing about him. What he takes away from facing his shadow is probably the most complex out of all the lead characters. The hardest thing to admit is the road to hell being paved in good intentions, especially if that road is *your* road.

I concur. Later in his route in P4 Arena and the tie-in manga, we see Narukami Yu taken out of commission and Yosuke taking up the hero's mantle. I have to say, it suits him quite well.

I wholehearted agree. There's a reason that he's outside while you, him, and Naoto discuss the killer.

Nah it's a good additional thing to point out. Thanks for the comment! I think people undervalue the good things Yosuke says to support him and honestly I could have highlighted a couple of those examples

@@HidinginPrivate I agree with you

Something to note also is that when they're staying in the hotsprings Yosuke shows no discomfort with sleeping in the same room as Kanji, I'm guessing that as they both got to know each other their dynamic changed.

Thanks you! All of these are very interesting insights! I love Naoto

Okay, allow me to question that bit on the dungeon dialouge a bit. If teddie’s dialouge with kanji and naoto are inaccessible due to the priority system, that implies that there is something that takes priority. I know teddie can appear with yosuke and the fox, and i know that kanji and naoto can appear together. Of these, the only one that seems to be an issue is the fox. For the others, you can simply take the character into your party, but the fox isn’t a party member. When i played the game, i usually used one of two team compositions, namely either yosuke/chie/yukiko or kanji/naoto/teddie. In my playthrough, the dungeon pairings i came across were chie/yukiko, kanji/naoto, and teddie/fox. This means that the fox has higher priority for teddie than kanji or naoto. Now, here’s my idea: what if you never recruited the fox? According to the wiki, the fox social link is started automatically on may 5th. If there was some way to skip that part of the game, that might allow us to see teddie’s dialouges with kanji and naoto

@@dededeletethis9940 Uh, maybe that'd work? IDK if the fox operates on a date system or a flag system though. I don't really think it matters all that much though since the bugged lines are documented on Dunkelzahn1, and all of Yosuke and Naoto's mains are finished on Bssv Vt Mfss. (I have most of the other conversations recorded, I just gotta edit them).

@@brandonmiller7389 wait, you have the dialouges? Nice! Can you tell me when that video is done? I am very interested in those dialouges, but there just isn’t enough documentation on it anywhere

@@dededeletethis9940 Sure, but there is a link to a text dump of all the dungeon dialouge on the bss-whatever channel, under the Yosuke video I think. Just use the wayback machine. I'd post the link here, but KZfaq doesn't really like that.

His classic line!

I thought that was Katsuya from the hit game Shin Survivor The Royal FES featuring Dante from the Devil May Cry Series…

@@dachking6657 You’re thinking of Rai-ho Shirogane from Demi Digital Story: Hacker Bros.

For real?

@@dachking6657 I think you mean Akemi from the hit game Megami Saga, the Royal NINE series.

You know that letter from Adachi you get in True Ending route which maxes out the SL? I wonder how a scene with a letter written by Saki before her death would be like for Yosuke and if it adds or takes away from his tale?

Why can't they understand that other social commentary exist? Like Japanese commentary exists and despite not being Japanese, I still find it funny in a way. Yosuke is a pervert, yeah that's expected from Japan. Yosuke dislikes Kanji due to his speculated sexuality, Yosuke is a confused teen and shouldn't really be hate for him feeling confused.

@@P.H691 people not enjoying certain aspects is not an issue of media literacy. You can entirely understand the commentary and still not enjoy it, which is entirely fine for a subjective experience. You may not even like the way they handled it, or many other things.

@@firelordwaffle2987 Exactly, thank you. Idk why people think a character's lore should make you like them instantly...

@@firelordwaffle2987 I’d still say that hate for Yosuke is a bit much.

Like seriously. Yosuke is a typical 16 year old boy who behaves like a typical 16 year old boy and gets hate. While Akechi, a SPOILERS murderer has a gigantic fanbase. People are so weird.

You know, I was thinking about this recently and I've realized Adachi isn't just a foil to Yu and Yosuke, he's a foil to every member of the team

I noticed the disconnect is VERY strong in Golden. In the original version much less so. WAY less. Imo P4G is the *inferior* version. Marie doesn't help shit at ALL.

@@IceQueen975doesn’t that basically mean royal didn’t do shit either

I think (and partially due to the short turn around, low budget etc) the p4 VA cast is pretty hit and miss if I'm honest. I think teddie (in p4g) is really good, and Yuri lowenthal does amazing as Yosuke. I also think Troy Baker's Kanji and Rise are really solid. Naoto is passable and I love her (although her VA was replaced in the spin offs and I REALLY don't like her new VA) Chie is pretty inconsistent, gaining and throwing away multiple accents between deliveries, and Yukiko's performance is so bad sometimes the character's personality completely changes between Japanese and english - but once again considering restraints and the time period, I think P4 has some of the best English voice acting for the Era. Something I'm glad to have continues seeing atlus hold and carry the torch on in the modern day.

@@HidinginPrivate I had only seen the anime and some clips until recently. When it comes to Naoto's current VA, I'm most familiar with her role in BBTAG, and thought it was a good mix of a feminine boyish voice. I always wondered why she sounded so feminine when she was supposed to be disguising her voice, but when I played P4G, I realized she actually did disguise her voice until her identity was revealed, then she stopped faking it. So I'm pretty sure that was intentional. I dunno, maybe they switched her VA so people who come across her (like in BBTAG for example) won't be spoiled.

I think that's the vibe they were going for. I can also see that as a cover for romantic tension idk. I think that's a valid way to see their conflicts

They are my OTP in this game because they are the Old Married Couple loool

I was looking for advice, not some smartass response!

All the persona games have a "bro" character. From ekichi to junpei to Yosuke to Ryuji. They have quite a bit of difference between them all though. Ryuji has elements of Kanji and yosuke mixed in

He's just a bro character in general. I'm guessing you never played Persona 1-3?

@@AdachiCabbage Yeah, you're right. I'll probably play P3 when it comes to switch though!

The “dipshit best bro” is probably the most blatantly reused character archetype in persona but they still all feel different to me and are all delightful characters in their own rights so I don’t mind lol

@@HidinginPrivate you forgot my boi Mark 😔or does hidehiko fit the archetype better im not sure

This.

Hi false! Glad you liked the video since you like him!

Welcome in. A black tie? Ah yes your seat is over there

Yosuke is like Akechi in P5. Very polerizing in the West, beloved in Japan. And both characters are very nuanced and Not PC (if you will). I sense a trend... but what do I know. It's not like this same issue of hating grey/complex/not perfect but realistic characters keeps happening in all fandoms nowadays! /s (if ya can't tell, I'm bitter af how Yosuke is shit on)

True. In fact, Yosuke like people are pretty much still common in my country (I live in certain country in Asia). And Yosuke was made to be a close to realistic Japanese person in 2011 (game year or 2008 real life year). It annoys me when they force their PC views on this game, but like my opinion wouldn't really matter on how they view the game anyway. I really dislike how they shit on Yosuke. And yes, Brosuke is my favorite Persona bro, since he can switch when he should act like other teenager among others and how he can be matured and deal with responsibility (like how he actually helped his father to manage Junes and mediate the people despite still being disliked by a lot of people), not just acting goofy all the time.

You don’t have to be explicitly or intentionally prejudiced to reproduce ideas that are prejudiced, and I think that’s exactly what’s happening with yosuke. His homophobia, if you choose to see it as such, is internalized. And as a gay person, yosuke is still my absolute favorite character. My reading of his characters has always been based on his cut romance as well, which adds another layer to an important message. He grows, and it’s important in any serious discussion to allow characters to be wrong and grow from some misguided thinking. For my experience, most homophobia is internalized, and a lot of people have a hard time recognizing that in themselves. Personally? As wild as this would sound out of context, give me more characters like yosuke that change the perception that homophobia is something only literal villains are capable of.

@@firelordwaffle2987 i apologize first, i definitely agree with you and i probably did not word what i said correctly, and i do agree with the internalized homophobia, but im mostly just referring to those yosuke haters that use the excuse “hes homophobic” as a way to cancel or shit on him, i do agree too tho, he grew out of the homophobia and learned better. my apologies again! english isnt my main language and im a bit shitty at it so i couldnt word it out correctly

Dead as far as you know. Truthfully ever since the events of persona 5, Yosuke hanamura has been trapped in my house

This is such an introspective comment, I really enjoyed reading your perspective! In my opinion, cutting the romance option was such a disservice to Yosuke’s character, it would have been a great opportunity to resolve the tension he had with Kanji and it makes sense in light of his moments of attraction to the main character. And I completely agree with your point on Saki, it always came across as one-sided to me and it’s clear he’s moved past his feelings for her based on the way he talks about her throughout the social links. Overall, I believe it’s hard not to see that they primarily dropped it because of fear of backlash. Would you mind sharing your thoughts on how Naoto’s character was handled? I would love to hear more!

@@cerendaroth6414 Aw thanks! Okay sure. So, regarding Naoto (and Naoto/Kanji), I think that Kanji's sexuality not being explicit (oh I'm bi/pan/I specifically like men and women) is a *good* thing, because I think Kanji's story is not about sexuality only, but about masculinity and associated stigmas. There's always an association that women are allowed to experiment with their sexuality; that it's far more socially acceptable than men doing the same, and even if Kanji IS straight (and we don't know that), the representation of him questioning in a (somewhat) healthy manner is something we need to see - it shouldn't be demonized, give the guy a break, he's a teenager experiencing feelings and we always need to remember, regardless of cultural context, of when this came out, that these are TEENAGERS and we can't attack them for not behaving like adults. But then with Naoto...again, some people treat this as an LGBTQ issue, which I do not agree with. I very much don't think Naoto is trans in any way, but that's just my perspective. Naoto's issues are issues with femininity and workplace misogyny, which has turned into internalized misogyny. While I reiterate that these are teenagers, as is the main character, I am always frustrated by how Naoto's romance is played out. Naoto is my 'best girl' as one says, but I refuse to romance her for two reasons- 1 - I think she and Kanji are cute together, and 2 - Her romance actively makes me feel uncomfortable. In order to romance Naoto, at multiple points you have to call out you are glad she is a girl, call her cute, and then, (I think it happens in Golden only) you get rewarded with 'Naoto in a skirt' for the valentines date. On a surface level this might seem fine - MC is attempting to acknowledge Naoto as female in a somewhat positive way, which is the games way of going 'Naoto being a girl is okay, don't worry Naoto, the group will talk about your bust size and stare at your legs, isn't being female great', but that's all it ends up being. Naoto being female isn't explored as Kanji's masculinity is explored. While this could be because Kanji is emperor arcana, which means it's the focus of his link, we still do see in the TV world, Kanji's insecurity is very much his masculinity/sexuality while in Naoto's dungeon it's specifically *how being female holds her back and how growing beyond herself is something she wants but only perceives she can do by negative transformation*. This negative transformation is REINFORCED by the romantic narrative, because while it allows Naoto the 'transformation' (so to speak) to a more feminine character, it only emphasizes SOCIETAL VIEWS of femininity, which was her major gripe to begin with. There's nothing about the strength of being female, the non-sexualized parts of it, Naoto is only appreciated as a woman in context of *sexuality*, and it happens time and time again- the swimsuit contest, the medical scenes, and, worst of all, in the romance which is supposed to be healthy for her. This only furthers her own perceived insecurities, but now she has to have the comfort blanket of the main character to make her think that her femininity is appreciated as itself, by itself, but never as her as a character in whole - Naoto is either 'the detective *prince*, smart and careful' or 'secret boobs', we never let both parts come together where her being female is just her gender, her pronouns, and not the entirety of the character, to the detriment of the rest of her. No wonder the poor girl wants to hide as a man at this rate. Again, the characters are teenagers, blah blah blah, but I think this is specifically a writing fault. I feel like if P4 had done a P3P and had a route redo where you played as a female MC for the game, the friendship with Naoto could have been so so beautiful, because it would have been about what is feminine without being in the male eye. I think it's a missed opportunity, and it's sad that Naoto is only equated with exploring what she represses in a sexualized manner.

i heard originally yosuke was going to be gay but they trashed the idea which I always thought was a bit odd we don't have much proof but a few suggestive lines of dialogue

Thanks! I tried to do him justice and give an indepth look at his character

I love that it popped up too! Glad you found me

Ha ha well I'm glad you enjoyed it. Maybe you'll pick it up... one day!

Thank you! My favorite ones are yet to come!

Now that I think about it, Ryuji is pretty much just Atlus throwing Kanji into the best friend role. Ryuji and Kanji both fulfill the "thug" archetype, while Yosuke is stuck with the "loser" archetype, which he shares with Mishima. While Mishima is relatively inoffensive since he's not a party member, he doesn't reach any of the lows that Yosuke does due to the constant interaction with him- Yosuke would probably be a fun character if he weren't in the party, maybe replace him with afro riddle kid idk

@@becausesakamoto5938 replace him with funky student xD now that'd be interesting

Hope you find it interesting!

Thank you!

Yosuke been real quiet since the events of persona 5

Well dang! I hope it was fun revisiting it! I've only got a few segments left!

Howdy! Glad you caught it early

Agreed! The group dynamics is why persona 4 was my favorite, inaba came to *life* for me as I experienced the story in a way p5 and p3 (p3 I admittedly don’t remember much of) didn’t for me

Thank you haha pretty much all the parts from now on will be this length or a decent but longer so watch put! I'm glad it didn't get boring for you

And this is the standard investigation team length...rip

Thanks!

Thanks! He's not my favorite (there are a lot of good persona characters) but I really like and appreciate him

Thank you

I thought not mentioning it would be disingenuous considering the history of discourse and my effort to cover the full game/ the full story. I like Yosuke a lot. But I think the truth is more nuanced than "he did nothing wrong" or "he's a pervy homophobe"

Glad you liked it! This length is gonna be more standard in the coming weeks with the other investigation team videos

So true

He's neat

Good luck on a 100% run! They're hard! Glad you're enjoying the videos

Lmao yeah this is a fairly new channel venture for me. How much did you watch before you realized?

Literally like halfway through this video a had a lightbulb moment and was like "hold on a fuckin minute here" 😭😂

Thank you!

Lol you should of seen the long word document recording everything

I think one major difference is Yumi is an optional link relating to grief that only surfaces from her link, and it's more of a trauma she had run from but is now finally overcoming after many years. With Yosuke, he is the first person you get to know, the anchor to the prospective player and the initial emotional tie to the story. He's the answer to "why should I care" which is much more important to get right. Yumi is someone you could play the game 3 times and not even notice exists- but yet that piece is somewhat conjecture given the evidence. I atleast think it is the more likely option than "atlus hates gay people" which I see thrown around as the only other explanation. Glad you liked it though! I appreciate the long comment! Hope my long response was an apt reply

It's a big boy