Japan's Issue with YASUKE and Assassin's Creed 

Ubisoft - "We did thorough research" Also Ubisoft - Mix ups Chinese and Japanese architecture, used a single Wikipedia article, and only plays Hip hop when Yasuke's on screen.

I can't wait till they make an Assassin's Creed game based in China, with Marco Polo as the protagonist acquiring an ancient scroll for the pasta recipe.

I like that one Japanese comment in the game trailer, he or she said something like "Ubisoft don't see him as Yasuke, they see him as a black guy"

The problem is they based it all on a faked Wikipedia page, essentially a professor/author wrote a historical fanfic with Yasuke as a legendary Japanese samurai, but he cited his own book as "proof" and literally made it all up, dude was literally kicked out of Japan lmao. Ubisoft really screwed up with this one. (lets be honest it should have been obvious)

Ubisoft know exactly what they are doing when they made that game. There is no way you can convince me it wasn't intentional.

As an African from Mozambique, I feel deeply frustrated by the portrayal of Yasuke in media, especially in the Ubisoft game and the anime. My frustration began with the anime, which I initially found intriguing. I even considered writing a fictitious story about Yasuke for a contest. However, the anime turned out to be a huge disappointment. I rated it 1 out of 10, not just due to technical issues, but because watching it felt like a waste of my limited data. In Mozambique, internet access is costly, so spending money on content that didn’t meet my expectations only added to my frustration. I still won't recommend it, though; it's your time to use however you see fit. When I learned that Ubisoft was developing an Assassin’s Creed game featuring Yasuke, my frustration grew. The issue wasn't Yasuke being chosen as a character, but rather why he was chosen. The portrayal felt superficial and tokenistic, as if the inclusion of Yasuke was a checkbox rather than a genuine attempt at “diversity.” Ubisoft could have included a range of historical figures, created a fictional character, or used an ethnic Japanese character, which is typical in their games. Instead, Yasuke, a figure with minimal historical impact in Japan, was presented in a context that felt disconnected from both African and Japanese cultures. The core problem is not with “diversity” itself, but with how it is applied. Diversity involves more than simply adding characters of different ethnicities; it requires incorporating a variety of perspectives and experiences. The use of modern American rap music in a historical Japanese setting was particularly offensive. It’s not just that the music is not Japanese; it’s also not African. It feels like a default choice whenever any character of African descent is involved, as if rap is the only musical genre that represents Black culture. This approach is not only repetitive but also dismissive of other musical styles and historical contexts. If a blend of music is necessary, it should be a mix of traditional Japanese and African music, not a modern American genre that doesn’t fit the historical period. The game’s approach to “diversity” appears to be more about ticking boxes rather than genuinely respecting and representing different cultures. Featuring a historical figure like Yasuke but presenting him in a context that disregards historical accuracy and cultural sensitivity feels like an attempt to use him as a token for “diversity” rather than acknowledging his actual historical significance. This tokenism undermines the richness of the cultural contexts involved and is particularly frustrating. Moreover, it’s disheartening to see African characters misrepresented in ways that push an agenda rather than reflecting their true backgrounds. Yasuke’s portrayal, with its anachronistic elements, indicates a lack of understanding or respect for the cultures involved. As an African who feels connected to these narratives, seeing them distorted is both disappointing and offensive. If representing my culture involves distorting or displacing another culture, I would prefer that my culture not be represented at all. I feel more represented by characters from various backgrounds, such as Goku from Dragon Ball or Naruto from Naruto, rather than characters created solely for “diversity” purposes. The struggles of these characters resonate with me far more than those of characters who seem to exist only to fulfill a “diversity” quota. I feel a stronger connection to the emotional journeys of characters like Naruto or even a piece of wood floating on water from One Piece than to any of these tokenistic representations. If this is the only way my culture can be portrayed, then it would be better if it remained unknown. With best regards, A Mozambican with an interest in Japan and overseas entertainment.

Also kinda strange that Yasuke is the first playable character that is an actual historical person, while every other playable character was created for the game.

What makes this sadder is it probably made a lot of people not like yas uke And weirdly enough they’re treating him in death as they used to in life and that is parade him around bc he’s black Edit: honestly all these forcing black people into places and cultures they shouldn’t be in reminds me of the scene in everybody hates Chris: where everyone is getting eggs but the teacher specifically gives Chris a brown egg, because he’s black, and she says that she felt he’d truly feel happy with it.. bc hes black. They’re giving Black people their brown eggs bc they’re black

They always ad black people into everything, but would never care enough to research and present an actual African story.

Remember guys, Resident Evil 5 was racist because you were killing black people in africa even though they were zombies, but this game isn't racist even though you are killing asian people who aren't zombies. I love the inconsistent logic.

For this games trailer / promotion in Japan, they put it out with Chinese subtitles only. Oh! Ubisoft !!! doing deep cultural research.

This your reminder not to buy the game "to see how bad it is"

Ubisoft presents: Assassin’s Creed Arctic Protagonist will be a Black Bear instead of a Polar Bear for DEI purposes.

All this reminds me of the Kingdom Come debacle but in reverse. Remember when all the jurnos called the studio racist, because there were no black people in medieval Bohemia?

ubisoft relied heavily on the work of one Thomas Lockley. As it turns out, this person wrote two different books on the same subject, for the Japanese market he makes it clear that assuming the character and his historical notes were purely speculative and can't be confirmed. In the version sold outside of Japan, he's made it clear that what he wrote about the character was fact! Not to mention he has been making and editing internet entries on the subject citing his own book, before it was published, supporting his conjecture. He found a mention in some historical text and ran with it to sell his fiction, saying it's all true simply because the subject in question does exist. Also, I think it's weird that the character is getting a broadway musical as well.

I just find it funny that Yasuke is supposed to be able to hide amongst the crowd. But he's the only 6 foot tall Black Guy in Feudal Japan lmao

Thomas Lockley/Tottoritum really got all the foreigners believe a black samurai existed in feudal japan. and he also denied not being involved but in reality he was very involved.

Japan: "We revere our ancestors to the point of literally worshiping them." Ubisoft: "Hey, you don't mind if we do some historical revisionism on your ancestors, do you?"

Real yasuke vs ubisoft yasuke His name yasuke meant "the black one" meanwhile ubisoft and thomas lockley turned him into some legendary samurai which did not have a family name like all samurai The real yasuke was a slave that the jesuits had and he was bought by the ruler of japan because of his skin, they thought the portoguese painted his skin black so they tried to clean him. Then once that failed they had him dancing for guests and then he was given a bamboo hut with paper doors and a small short blade as a gift by the ruler who also invited 15 sumos to entertain him and gave them land and wages so they can buy food and clothes and of course a place to stay. So he was the kind of guy who would literally buy a taxi and pay a passer buy to drive him around. Meanwhile the portray of yasuke was that he was so awesome that he was given a mansion and a armor and a legendary lvl 60 katana. Real yasuke stayed in japan for 15 months he did not speak fluent japanese, aside from a few worlds and he did not master the blade and became a samurai as it took samurais decades of training to become samurai. Meanwhile in the game he enters large battles with lo fi hip hop asian remix music in obsidian armor and moon helmet and slaughters everyone by stabbing them even though katanas are slashing swords not piercing swords. He mastered the blade with the power of his melanin. This is blackexploitation isekai for black weebs not historical accurate in the slightest, so calling him a "historical character" is a lie. The real yasuke never fought anyone and when his master was killed he surrendered, instead of falling oh his sword for dishonoring his family name like samurais did, they concluded that LE EPIC LEGENDARY BLACK SAMURAI was not a threat to anyone so they gave him back to the jesuits and thats the last we heard of him, he lived the rest of his live as a slave, poor yasuke indeed. Meanwhile in the book lockley claims that it is possible he is the one responsible for delivering the head of the ruler of japan and therefore he is the most important samurai in japanesse history. LMAO, the propaganda angle is clear and i bet this is what they gonna do in the game as well, remember all of this is happening because lockley who is now disgraced fired and his studies are removed from universitieslied to sell books and to promote multiculturalism in japan as he has said in a interview with the japanesse refugees organization in 2020 that japan must take more immigrants in and he knows how hard it is to be a refugee because his grandfather was jewish...again lmao. On top of that even the architecture and the seasons in the game are wrong so you have to question if the "consultants" did anything right or they were hired because they also wanted to promote this afrocentrism ideas to japan. Case and point.... yasuke was clearly not bisexual, but he is in the game, because this is the agenda they want to promote.

bigger disrespect is that Yasuke is Not African American so hip-hop is definitely big no. Could've used old traditional Mozambique music. But they just had to assume hip-hop cuz black. worst off all who worked on this is generally white.

Three things absolutely invalidate everything about Ubisoft's non-apology post: 1) they cannot use Fiction as a Barrier to historical inaccuracies when they also use History as a defence about the criticism of Yasuke being a Samurai in the past. Well, utill it surfaces that Thomas Lockley, their main source for the apparent history, made all the "Yasuke is a Samurai" shiz up. 2) Passion and Attention to Detail ALWAYS go hand in hand, and are Virtually inseparable. You cannot claim Passion when your design team couldn't tell the difference between Chinese and Japanese architecture, Mixes Season, uses the wrong tatami mat, make a clan symbol upside down, and put the Shougun seated at the same level as the retainers. That's no passion, that's LAZINESS. 3) We all know Ubisoft do everything of this for Optics alone. Why would they go to such Hoops and Bounds just to desperately put a Black man in an Assassin's Creed set in Japan if not for Optics? Because of their recent workplace scandals, i can see how low their DEI score had been. So they do their desperate best to score high on their DEI metrics. Patronise the Black Community by casting a Black man, and since Anime is Huge in the black Community "lets make him a Samurai, I bet they would think it would be the coolest thing, am I right?" And then they make the other Duotagonist half a Woman to score them girl boss points. Then they make both of them gay to even score more points to the Alphabet community. Yeah we can feel your "sincerity" Ubisoft. That is why many who have read this non-apology has the same Reaction. Ubisoft can have this non-apology, and SHOVE IT UP THEIR A$$.

As a Vastatosaurus Rex I feel very underrepresented probably for the best

Ngl they could've just had Fuma Kotarou or Hattori Hanzo but NOOOOOOO

Im just not going to play a game that disrespects Japanese culture just to check a box to maje them selfs look better. Nothing anyone can say to change my mind. I stand with the Japanese people.

*_It's not even like it is the first time that Yasuke has been portrayed as a samurai in a video game. He was a pretty tough boss in Nioh. However, Koei Tecmo did not go out of their way to portray their game's setting as if it were "historically authentic." It was just a fun(?) game._* *_Ubisoft, on the other hand, have been using several cultures' histories as Assassin Creed's rod-sleeve for some time now, especially Greece's. This "Cleopatra" event is long overdue for them._*

As far as I know, most Japanese peopel are not upset about the inaccuracies because of "bad representation" in and of itself. They are upset because Ubisoft went to great lengths to let EVERYONE know how "extensively researched" and "accurate" their game is, and how they had "expert consultants". Most Japanese content creators I saw talking about the issue said that they wouldn't be bothered if it was marketed as a full historical fiction instead of a mostly accurate historical game with ficitonal elements.

The thing about DEI: they don't care about culture, they care about control. Don't take my word for it, or even this seeming anecdote of AC:Shadows. It's constant across DEI's actions. Some of them don't even care to keep the quiet part quiet, they'll tell you either flat out or in so many roundabout words.

“I love your mother, but she’s more like a pet to me” -Omni-man

The problem I have with recent AC games is that they have strayed away from being stealth games and are focused on combat even though its called "Assassin's Creed" so why not a ninja protagonist.

Japanese here. This controversy made me realize how much liberal people hate us since my country and my people don’t play the DEI game. I’ve been playing AC since I was a teenager and I waited for years to play a Japanese samurai and guess what, they spit in our faces and in our culture. I’m disappointed in so many levels, it makes me disgusted.

"hide in a plain sight" the only black dude in a whole country

Yeah naw, Ubisoft deserves all the backlash they get. Especially after putting out hit pieces to call us all istaphobes and the likes.

If Yasuke was a samurai, why didn’t he kill himself when Oda Nobunaga died?

It's Shaq in feudal Japan. His enemies will never see him coming. 😂

it's not just a game, they are changing history itself to make him samurai

Please excuse my poor English. Thanks for taking up this issue. Japanese people are very tolerant of fiction. This has led to the creation of various characters. Yasuke would not have been a problem if it was clear that he was a fictional character. However, [Assassin's Creed Shadows] did not make it clear that it was fiction, but instead had Yasuke (a historical character) appear and rampage as if it were historical fact. What UBI said at the beginning and what they say in their apology are not the same. There were many things that would never have been wrong if historians and researchers had worked together to produce the game in a respectful manner. Still, if it is clear that it is fiction, the Japanese do not care. However, if the fiction is manipulated to make it seem like historical fact, it is a different story. There are demons who alter Japanese history. And there are traitors among Japanese people. They are Masaru Hirayama and Mihoko Oka. The problem is that they are recognized as historians. They seems to be involved in the interests of Thomas Lockley, the person is the root of all evil. They are altering and selling out Japanese culture for their benefit. This [Assassin's Creed Shadows] is just one of these issues. Yasuke is a person who existed in history, but there are few documents and he is not well known. Japan is historically fond of records. If Yasuke had played a major role, there must be a record of it somewhere. They are the ones who are manipulating impressions and falsifying history by creating stories based on delusions and fantasies about Yasuke, who is not well known. Their purpose must be somewhere else. Even NHK, Japan's national broadcaster, has also recognized Thomas Lockley as an expert and has produced and broadcast a program on him. Although UBI may be one of another victim of their deception. Japan has experienced twisted historical facts in the past and has since been plagued by problems that do not exist. The Japanese people are concerned that something similar will happen, and they are taking this up as an issue. Thank you again for bringing this issue to our attention.

Im sorry they literally had the choice between a famous ninja/samurai Hattori Hanzo(the real world inspiration of scorpion from MK and figure head of all ninja and japanese assassins in modern times) and a guy who people arent even sure he was a samurai let alone fought in any war. Sorry, Ubisoft is brain dead.

I don't think anyone would care about Yasuke if he'd been an NPC, just like every other real world character in the AC franchise. The fact he was a playable character? That really stands out.

I'd also like to point out that no one is mentioning that in every other Assassin's Creed game you play as an OG character, created specifically for that game. This is the first and only AC game where you play as an "actual historical figure." So in that light, I personally believe he was deliberately chosen JUST because he was a black figure in Japan around that general time period. Because Ubisoft couldn't have gotten away with inserting an original black main/playable character in Japan without the argument that "he actually existed." Hot take, I guess.

Yasuke was never recognized as a Samurai, even by other Samurai. He was at best, Mascot. (This is pretty much the same logic as Kim Jong Un taking pictures with Dennis Rodman.)

Why is there a main character romance plot in a game where I'm supposed to be an assassin assassinating people?

The biggest problem was that a random dude was trying to pass his fictional book as historical facts.

Yasuke is a very insteresting figure that lived throught one of the greastest eras in Japan, not a warrior but a Retainer who rubbed shoulders with other historical figures of the time. Imagine how he could had described the era from his POV as a character you can encounter in the game. Ubisoft: Let's make him bixesual, make sure to slap some lame hip hop theme everytime he fights Nippons in order to increase his black swagger status, add some fried chicken and grape juice for good measure. Wakanda Forever god damn it!

I can actually answer a few of the questions you asked. I'm black and someone with an interest in Japanese history, so there are some things I can help clarify. I have no beef with Yasuke being in the game. What I DO have beef with is that he just happens to be a samurai and a member of the samurai class. There's very little information about Yasuke that we have in history, but what we do have is that he was never a samurai. Samurai were lords, and Yasuke wasn't one. There's some evidence that Oda Nobunaga wanted to make him a lord, but even that evidence is questionable. But he could speak and read the language, which is part of why Oda Nobunaga took an interest in him. Ubisoft could have made him an advisor or someone with good standing with Nobunaga, but making him a samurai is historically inaccurate. And I've come to hate the fact that black people have to be fighters in order to have their place in history. It's like they say: nobody wants to be Roots. As for Yasuke's sexuality, is it histtorically accurate to make him gay? No, but Samurai did dabble in same sex relationships. See, there was a practice called "Shudo" that was prevalent in Japan. It was a practice where those of the Samurai class took in young pages under their wing and taught them samurai ettiquette, combat, and the code of honor. More often than not, Samurai would develop same sex relationships with their pages. It was just something that happened. Oda Nobunaga was said to have practiced shudo, Takeda Shingen was married, but still wrote love letters to a young page until he was turned down. This was a bit more common than you think, but I believe it fell out of practice later. Women have in equivalent of this, although the term has no name, but Japanese women of nobility often had sexual trists or relationships with their handmaidens (you actually see an example of this in Ghosts of Tsushima from the character of Masako Adachi). Again, it was just something that happened. But that makes no sense for Yasuke because shudo was a practice of the samurai and he was never a samurai. If you want Naoe to swing both ways, that's fine, but you can't do that with Yasuke because it makes no sense. Making Yasuke gay is just DEI garbage used to get free money from companies and get people on Twitter talking, and Ubisoft knows that. They don't care about inclusivity or equality: this is just a move Judas wants to do to get his 30 pieces of silver; nothing more. I honestly don't know I came across this video, but I hope this clarifies some stuff.

the fact ubisoft would've been perfectly fine (and get some asian representation in) if they just made both main characters japanese

I hate these multiple character things they keep doing with these games. Instead of giving us two seperate uninteresting characters, why not give us one good one? I guess they can’t appeal to even more groups with one. Still sucks.

It's not that they chose a black man to be the main character. It's that they didn't choose a Japanese man. I mean they decided to loosely base it in real events with real people, and allegedly Oda Nobunaga will at least have something to do with the game, so at least maybe there's that. But really if they did their research, and actually wanted a game that portrays Japanese culture, why not choose one of the countless figures in Japanese history who are famous and full of folklore? Someone like Benkei would have been amazing. There are no shortage of stories of his exploits, and there's so much folklore. He even spent a sizeable part of his life as a monk, a hermit in the mountains, and as a rogue warrior. He could actually be passable as a historical figure that was maybe some shadowy assassin. Not the least of which being it's widely believed he served the greatest Samurai to live, Ushiwakamaru (Minamato no Yoshitsune), who ruled a powerful clan in a tumultuous time in Japan, which positions him to actually do the things you'd expect to do in an Assassins Creed game. But no, because that was in the 12th century and we wouldn't get to have Samurai with guns, so it might be too much like Sekiro or something. Okay rant over.

They didn't even make him an african. They made him a black american. They didn't play african music for his theme, it's american rap.

15 months in Japan. Couldn't speak Japanese and was never trained. He was a pet not a samurai.. This is some grade "A" BS I do feel sorry for Yasuke as he was treated as a oddity as the Lord liked new things and was sold back after the lord got bored with him.

Them saying that it's based on real history and then changing a real historical character into a sexuality that wasn't documented is messed up like they're dead that's so disrespectful

YES!!! What an analysis! I love that you took the race issue head on! "These gaming companies and big media companies like Disney seem to avoid African countries like the plague, and it begs the question: why? Why do Hollywood and elite companies choose to always take Africans or African descendants out of their native areas and force them into other cultures? Is it because they're perpetuating what their ancestors did by bringing Africans from their native areas, and that's the only way they can see dark skinned people playing a role?" This is one of the greatest quotes I've heard in regards to modernism and race. Tremendously brilliant video! Lol not sure if it makes any difference, I'm an Asian guy. Samurai study the blade for decades. Yasuke was in Japan for 15 months. He managed to not only master the blade, but is able to easily defeat other Samurai and is seen in the trailer leading men. Being that he's wearing Oda's symbol and leading men into battle, it makes it look like Yasuke is just so much more superior than the Japanese. He mastered in a year what takes most Japanese men at least 10 years. That's pretty disrespectful. Historical fiction or not.

I agree with you saying that Yasuke feels more like a marketing point

And Chinese buildings in Japan

Funny enough, there were more Mexicans in feudal Japan than black people, particularly in the south-west around Nagasaki

Ubisoft's racism towards Asians is intentional.

I'm a Ubisoft employee we told Ubisoft but they didn't listen we tried to make naoe a secondary protagonist but it DIDN'T WORK.

The people who defend Yauske are the same people who will pitch a fit if Resident Evil 5 ever gets remade.

Imagine being a servant boy, basically a glorified pet, and centuries later, people treat you like some legendary warrior who changed history simply because of your skin colour

My grandma always said: "No matter what they tell in school, japanese samurai were trans-pansexual-gay-diverse-nonbinary-black

A black guy attacking asians? You can't claim Ubisoft didn't try to make the most realistic game ever.

They should have made him someone you interact with from time to time. Have him talk about the inner working of nobunagas court . In the end he lends a hand when you need it and mentions he feels his time in Japan will soon be at it's end . That's how i would potray him.

Animus accepted the Ninja Girl gene, but rejected the Japanese male Samurai gene. They adopted the gene for the black male who can't hide, and added rhythmic background music as a special option.

A much more interesting concept would be if Yasuke was a halfbreed. Like if his father was a staunchly traditional Japanese man and his mom was a merchant’s daughter from some Africa port town or whatever works in the setting. She dies in childbirth and Yasuke’s father takes in his mix-race son despite the obvious social repercussions and trains him in the way of the warrior; to protect his son from bullies and maybe even to try and make him pay spiritually for the sin of being born. Like, the character would be so good, so deep and troubled and interesting! Add on a playful bit of “scary demon samurai, his skin is black as his heart” that Yasuke encourages to intimidate his enemies. I see soooooo much potential for a fun and engaging story here!

Tbh. I think the most hilarious part is their Yasuke doesn't even look like he is from Mozambique. Especially the people from that time. The only thing most people agree on with Yasuke is where he is most likely from and even that is suspect. Most of the records from that time have been lost and very obviously documentation of a single slave would be even harder to track down. Their depiction looks more like a mixed person from America. Most likely Caribbean. The character would fit in with the Black Flag characters and you wouldn't even blink and eye.

I don't care what your teachers told you, my grandmother always told me that the best samurais were the gay blacks.

Someone in another video put it really well: because people are focused on the narratives placed in the wiki by a novelist trying to pass it as more historically relevant than it actually was (most of the traced wiki changes were added by Thomas over time) it takes away what the man went through in real life. He was a slave who was taken to Japan, given a position as what almost looks like a curiosity, and who's life was spared when he gave up the sword given so he could hold the position after his patron lost his battle, and returned to the Portuguese/church. He was not a samurai, it takes a ridiculously long time to train for that, but it was still an interesting footnote in history.

Check the controversy of stealing the banner from a real japanese group, using zoro sword from one piece as a prop, mixing chinese and japanese architecture(here you have something extremely sensitive, considering most chinese-japanese hate each other).

I recommend a video from Shohei Kondo talking about the AC: Shadows Yasuke situation. The video is called: We are mad! Japanese speaks up: Racism in the Shadows.

I'm looking forward to Assassin's Creed: Riverlord where you play as a white Belgian colonist in 1890s Congo. Iykyk

I dont know why they had to make this a historical character to begin with. There would have been way less backlash if they just made their own original character and would lend more to their fictional history motif they do with ac games

An original, fictional black character assassin wouldve been a much more promising premise. Imagine the challenge of trying to blend in with hundreds of smaller Japanese citizens as a huge black man. If this could be executed perfectly it could make for a unique experience. Or hell just keep Naoe and ditch Yasuke altogether. She seems cool as hell and fits the setting infinitely more.

Japan is furious with this. It has reached the part the actual Japanese Government are looking into the game, and the person talking about this said this could become an international incident. Also Honor was extremely important to samurai to the point that if their lord died, the samurai would commit seppuku to protect their honor. Yasuke lived beyond Nobunaga's death, so Yasuke wasn't a samurai. The Japanese don't have issues with Yasuke in Assassin's Creed Shadows. It's between the use of things without permission, Ubisoft doubling down on Thomas Lockley's lie, treating the culture with disrespect, and mixing up their seasons. The trailer showed Cherry Blossoms, which blooms in spring, while Rice harvesting is in fall. You see both in the same scene at the same time! Depending on what Japan does, we might see the first time we see a nation doing something that DEI supporters and companies like Sweet Baby will RAGE over.

I'm bi and the kind of 'white' Adolf would have hated... and I'm really tired of all the pandering from these companies. Thanks you for saying all this Alteori, and being so reasonable and open to discussion about it. We need more normal people like you speaking up, they can't dismiss a young married woman as an 'incel' can they?

As Ubisoft notes, the franchise has a 20 year history now and not once has an actual historical figure been a main protagonist for the full play through. A single battle or a DLC, maybe. But never the full game. So deciding the one black guy that has about 3 sentences written about him in historical documents should be the main protagonist for the Japan entry definitely seems like virtue signaling "look how progressive we are." Yasuke should have been a central NPC that you interact with regularly, serving as the player's point of contact into Nobunaga's court. Same as it was with Cleopatra in Origins, Socrates in Odyssey, da Vinci in the Ezio games, etc.

There's actually a game called Samurai Warriors where Yasuke is in it trying to become a true Samurai because of his admiration of it while remaining loyal to Nobunaga

Crazy thing there is a Chinese assassin creed game with Chinese protagonists

They should of done one based on the kingdom of Mali during the reign of Mansa Musa the richest king in history. They fumbled the ball so bad

I kno he's a fictional character, but they did the samething to Aqua Lad from Young Justice....literally the only black young justice member and he was selected as leader. He goes back to Atlantis and finda out his former 'girlfriend' is now with his childhood friend....all of a sudden, next season he has a 'boyfriend'. Aqua Lad was never gay until they rebooted his comic, now since it flopped, no more stories aboutba black Aqua Lad

A side questline involving yasuke would fit his role in Japanese history.

Don't worry the hiphop music was clearly not intentional

Ah, I am not justifying Chinese hating on Japanese, because what happened in the past is in the past. There shouldn’t be hate for people who are not involved now. But there is a history of Japanese slandering Chinese civilians during their occupancy in China. This is sort of difficult for older generations who may have family in that era to view Japanese nicely.

Most North Americans can only see things in their own cultural context. They can only conceive of a black man as being a slave or ex-slave because that's the North American context, so that's what they put in their game. Because of America's cultural dominance, this attitude has been exported to countries that are most influenced by America, i.e. Western European countries, so you get these games that push black people into a non-African cultural context because that's what North Americans know, and it's always about black people having been slaves, because that's the North American cultural context, never mind if it has nothing to do with the cultural context they are portraying.

2xAss+In México: a random black guy helps the Spanish conquerors to conquer the Aztecs.

Assassins Creed: Royalty is a faithful recreation of King Henry the 8th's reign. King Henry VIII is played by Idris Elba and his wives are played by female celebrities including Oprah Winfrey, Beyonce and Nicki Minaj. You play as a chinese, South American assassin that is totally a real person who was a knight of the round table. Your job is to convince Henry to change his ways and pay his child support.

Great video..! I especially like the fact that you took a stance at the end with your closing thoughts. You're absolutely right of course. Ubisoft knew exactly what they were doing, probably with a heavy push from SweetBabyInc. If I'm not wrong, there should be info somewhere in the last few days about how a Historian called Tomas Lochley faked the information about Yasuke to help Ubisoft along too. Very informative, thank you...! 👍🏻

Yasuke could've easily been in the game as a NPC quest giver that gives the player information that knly someone in his unique position would have. Give him a few cool moments and players would've liked him infinitely more and people would Google him to learn more about him instead of Googling him to prove Ubisoft wrong. They could've had their 'minority' character quota without putting him in the forefront while explaining his actual history so his presence makes sense instead of just arbitrarily being there. Ubisoft's strength with Assassin's Creed (to me anyway, i dropped the series after Revalations, so i fell off a long time ago) was that they always stuck with historical accuracies while the player character always sort of filled in the blanks as to how some historical events played out and for the first time. (Maybe not first) that they can be proven wrong with a quick internet search. Yasuke wasn't a samurai. That's why i think him being a side character would be a good fit. We don't know much about him, it gives him enough flexibility to be a plot-device or give the player exposition while 'head-canononing?' what he might've done while still not really contradicting what we know about him through history

Also a big point in Assassin's Creed is the person using the animus is a descendant of the person they go back to visit so it doesn't make sense for either of the historical characters to be gay

I have the same problem with this game as I had with Odyssey and Valhalla it's that it's not a fucking Assassin's Creed game you play as a Spartan,Viking and now a random Samurai but they aren't assassins and in this case the second characters doesn't even matter because this feels Yasuke focused it's like when they just slapped a hidden blade on the new characters but in this case the hidden blade is a second playable character who nobody even talks about

I’m all for diversity where it makes sense. But to shoehorn a historical figure as the playable character in a video game franchise known to have fictional characters as the playable characters… just for woke points is laughable. Also allowing the choice for an historical figure had gay relationships (regardless of it being creative liberties) is just offensive. Not only to the persons history but to gay people. As one myself, my sexuality doesn’t need to be shoehorned into every story narrative for me to be seen. Ubisoft deserves any backlash for this, as well as the consultant companies they used to push this narrative.

Do remember that one of the "experts" they hired was a known activist first historian second. From the website "that park place" : Outside of her work with Ubisoft on Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Schmidt-Hori is an Associate Professor at Dartmouth in the university’s Art & Sciences department. Her biography on Dartmouth’s website confirms she is an activist, “I am interested in investigating how gender, sexuality, corporeality, and power are represented and negotiated in pre-seventeenth-century Japanese narratives and illustrations. My first book, Tales of Idolized Boys: Male-Male Love in Medieval Japanese Narratives (University of Hawai`i Press, 2021) is on medieval chigo monogatari (Buddhist acolyte tales), which often depict romantic relationships between Buddhist priests and adolescent boys. These tales challenge a host of normative and moral standards we (academics, especially) internalize, including such ideas as ‘sexual orientation,’ ‘transgenerational sex,’ and ‘sexual agency.'” So this is one of the "experts".

the french insult the real yasuke history by making this game.. lol

Alteori the out of africa theory has recently come under alot of fire

The fact that so much of the current excitement about Yasuke comes from a "historian" named Thomas Lockley who's history books that he publishes in japanese don't say the same things as his English translations. In the japanese books he talks about how there's "little to not evidence" for a lot of the claims he makes about Yasuke, but in his English "translations" he claims that "there is wide consensus that Yasuke reshaped japanese history."

It’s funny how same people who dogpiled on Ghost of Tsushima for being “culturally appropriate” are the same people who are playing defense for Ubisoft.

I wanna play as a ninja not a ninja.

The only thing i found funny was when black men on FB were defending this until they heard humors Yasuke was gonna be gay lmao suddenly they ain’t feeling this anymore

Imagine if they added YASUKE as wondering swordsman that you meet multiple times on travels, and if you help him in some mission chain we joins you in few missions... Everyone would love that idea... but well they have to make all shit...

The thing that makes me laugh the most about this is not only did the "historian" they pulled in essentially get called out for writing fanfiction at best about Yasuke, but the Ubisoft Japan Twitter getting community noted.

you guys do realise that there are sites that talked about Yasuke before the game was even announced or even created??? Like... He was a real person that existed in feudal Japan

The Yosuke situation is one thing but don't let this totally distract you from the fact that the game's pricing is atrocious. I think that is the most concerning part lol