@@mystery8820 to be fair, Akechi is a murderer so it makes a little more sense than Ryuji and Yusuke not being romance options. Still though, it makes more sense to be able to date a killer who's only 1-2 years older than your character rather than being able to date a drunk who's probably their 30's
@@elijahbradley704 I was just kidding around that time. You know this game didn’t come with “that”, though Yosuke was close to getting there in P4’s development.
My absolute favorite thing about Yusuke's story is the way he has to unpack all of his emotions *after* his chapter. That Madarame isn't a cartoonish villain, just a bad, abusive person who did love him, and whom Yusuke did love. Those things can be true at the same time and it's confusing and difficult to work through, and a much more difficult and interesting narrative choice than just making him uncaring.
The philosophical nature of Yusuke's confidant makes it one of my favorites and I wish he was romancable. Also, his English voice actor is Matt Mercer. That guy is amazing.
The talented but troubled line definitely implies a more premeditated abuse from Madarame. He chose people who were troubled, or who had nowhere else to go, because they would be more susceptible to his manipulation, and most importantly, would be unable to escape because they were minors and/or didn't have anyone else or anywhere else to go.
I think its a missed opportunity that Yusuke's eccentric behavior is 99% played for jokes. Like, the guy has more autism symptoms than Futaba and is somewhat self aware of it, but mostly not. But its always because they wanted to set up a gag or just show him doing weird shit (which is wonderful, don't get me wrong) They never have him in a more serious situation being that awkward, which could've been interesting Still the best boy of P5 and I love that the Emperor Arcana has been consistently had the most fun characters in their respective games
There's a manga called blue period that focuses on art from a specifically japanese perspective so if you wanted to look into it without calling it research I definitely recommend it! Only a couple volumes are officially in english but there's going to be an anime adaptation out this year if that's more your thing
I always learn something from these videos. One thing I like about this arc is how much time it spends on Yusuke and Madarame’s relationship. The story really pushes the characters to understand that abusive relationships come in different forms and in different situations. I like Yusuke’s confidant a lot as well. Not only is it funny and memorable, it’s also fulfilling to see Yusuke regain his sense when it comes to art and, to a certain extent, life in general. The last thing I’ll say is that my fav section of this arc is at the end when Yusuke decides to leave the Sayuri at Leblanc. It’s a nice contrast with Yusuke seeing art as something that’s meant to enrich everyone’s lives whereas Madarame saw it as a vehicle to enrich himself. Anyway, great video, Lady
As an artist myself I identified with him immediately! His finding beauty in all the settings and his eccentric way of dressing reminds me of myself and how the thieves just accepted him for how he was, even if a little strange lol just like my friends😝
While I agree on mostly everything, I can't really agree on Madarame being a kind teacher despite everything. I understand the dialectical thinking, but Yusuke is an unreliable narrator in this situation. Many outside sources during the game tell us Madarame would physically punish his pupils, and Yusuke wouldn't be the exception, considering he told Nakanohara that he wanted to leave, but couldn't. In p5D we get to know that Madarame used cold showers as punishment as well, when Yusuke is talking about senseis with Makoto. Yusuke is unreliable because he thinks these things are normal. We know for a fact that not eating was a punishment he received too. And according to the report on Madarame from the phansite, he treated his pupils like dogs. Not to even dive in what it's not said, but rather shown, like a minor being familiar with nude modelling, which even as an art practice minors shouldn't be able to have access to it. (Most places ask for your ID to have a nude modelling session)
Agreed fully. I am not totally comfortable with how this video frames it as a 50/50 split between Madarame's abuse and rare moments of "kindness". The abuse went a lot deeper. Yusuke was treated very harshly at times, but still has trouble understanding it was wrong (see his line while exploring Okumura's palace). Overall, I feel this is a part where, if the game's intention was to show it as a more complicated situation, it kinda failed, since Madarame's abuse and Yusuke's inability to recognize his trauma really push the scale down one side.
@@Shamangirl92 to elaborate further, the instances of kindness are part of the abuse too. when an abuser has someone under their control, they dont really start as horrible from the get go. there are moments of tranquility, there are pleasant experiences, demonstrations of love and devotion. and among all of this, the little things: controlling behaviour disguised as concern, doing/making you do uncomfortable things under the guise of helping you develop thicker skin, etc etc. like the tide erodes the shoreline, so does the abusers treatment toe the line of acceptable over and over and over again. until our definition of acceptable treatment is whatever they'll give to us: good, bad and the slow, winding anxiety of nothing happening. conflicting feelings about an abuser (be they a parent, partner, a friend) are not exactly rare, these moments of “kindness" being a major sticking point for a lot of victims when people from outside their abusive relationship say “that sounds really bad. im concerned for you and i think you should seek help". people in general think its always maximum level bad all of the time, but this is a misconception about how abuse functions, which itself hinders and/or prevents people from realizing they are in an abusive situation
I think it's worth noting that it's pretty common in abusive relationships for the abuser to use a mask of kindness or 'thinking of their victim's well-being' while they are being abusive. It's quite possible that he was completely calm and positive while enacting verbal/physical abuse, or that his abuse was indirect or based in manipulation. And regardless, Madarame's primary goal the entire time was to use Yusuke for his artwork. His ulterior motive in guiding or supporting Yusuke was always in service of that, so any 'kindness' or 'sacrifice' he offered were ultimately selfishly morivated. It makes me wonder what really happened, as we only hear it from Yusuke in any level of detail, and he is definitely an unreliable narrator unfortunately.
So glad these videos exist, been binging them and enjoying them immensely. I personally read Yusuke as autistic, in addition to Futaba. Whilst, as you mentioned, Yusuke does adhere to those strict social codes in regards to one's higher ups, a *lot* of social cues seem to go right over his head, and he has a similar situation to Futaba, in most of his conversations relating back to art in some respect. Honestly, I know it's rarely a writer's intent to specifically include autistic characters, (especially for widely publicized works like the Persona games,) but due to many people knowing autistic folk without realizing it, these sorts of characters are more common than one might think, until they start looking for them. I'm just pleased as punch seeing multiple characters very clearly coded to be on the spectrum in the main cast, and portrayed (mostly) in a kind manner. Very excited to continue watching all these vids.
Reply to an old comment but I agree with this. I also read Yusuke as ace, for the way he seems to genuinely not to see any sexual weirdness in his actions around Ann. He doesn't make excuses about how it isn't like that, he seems not even to know what they mean. He also never clocks on to people thinking he and Joker are a couple, iirc
I ADORE this boy. This video is a phenomenal look at him! As someone well-versed in psychology, how do you feel about the interpretation that Yusuke is autistic? I know Futaba was clearly coded as autistic, but as a fellow autistic person with ADHD, I connect to Yusuke a ton in behavior and personality.
I absolutely adore Yusuke and have an attachment to him as a character. Despite the severe trauma that he experienced, he was still able to pursue his creative outlet. He didn't lose hope in his creativity, which is something that I struggled with after experiencing a slightly similar traumatic experience. He gave me hope to pursue my creativity again. ❤️
Regarding your statement near the end of part 4. I think it's important to portray sociocultural problems in a negative light and bring attention to them. It helps realize that no place on earth is a perfect wonderland and I think romanticizing countries you don't live in as perfect is not a very good mindset. P.S Yusuke best boy. I love these videos
First off... oh man, this is definitely my favourite one of these you've done, and Yusuke was the one I was LEAST excited for. I wasn't sure what to expect, but the history lesson was great and it put into perspective some things about Yusuke that I never noticed but seem obvious now, like him having the only Japanese Persona of the PT. (By contrast, all the P4 party Personas are Japanese, and none of the P3 ones are) In fact there's probably a whole analysis video in comparing P3, 4 and 5's party Personas, maybe P5's being more rooted in modern literature and representations of people who supposedly really existed is due to it talking more contemporary issues? Anyway, Yusuke used to be the least interesting of the PT to me, as, like a lot of P5's party sadly, he gets reduced to mostly comic relief after his arc is over. I always did like his Confidant though (and not just because I was almost literally rofl-ing at the church rank...), and I like how you describe him as the most "philosophical" of the party. (As I was typing this my mind went in a weird direction: I wonder if Yusuke might be an INFJ? I've been taking Myer-Briggs tests "in-character" as various Persona party members in my spare time for fun, and no-one's got INFJ so far but maybe Yusuke's blend of creativity, emotion and methodical approach to things will do it?) My experience with Madarame was interesting, as my attitude shifted a lot from vanilla to Royal. Back in vanilla, I couldn't help but feel he wasn't that bad, mostly because Kamoshida preceded him and he was followed by Kaneshiro. (A mob boss who tries to sell a teenager into sex slavery) Letting Yusuke's mother die was bad but I never really saw his relationship with his pupils as abusive. Once I played Royal in 2020 though, I'd been getting into more RU-vid psychology/analysis videos and I now was a lot more aware of gaslighting, so going though the arc again I was like "yeah, he's horrible". There's still that duality in Yusuke's Social Link though, and that a part of him did still care. If you've played P4, you'll know Shadows don't represent the entirety of a person, only the aspects of themselves they hide, so while Shadow Madarame is a monster, that doesn't eliminate the idea his real-world self had SOME compassion. But overall, I realized that of all the Palace Rulers, Madarame might be the most scarily accurate portrayal of a real-life abuser. There are problem MANY people out there who deal with people like that in their lives, especially the part where Madarame plays the victim card and passive-aggressively shifts the blame onto Yusuke during the scene where they find the stolen paintings. 14:22 Yay, Alight! Also fits since Yusuke's English VA, Matthew Mercer, played Ryoma in FE Fates. I've always loved the message in Yusuke's confidant that it's okay and not selfish to want to make money off your work. It's simple, but it's something you don't see often in fiction, since plots are usually about how shallow cash-grabs are bad. Like the whole Social Link, it's about finding a balance. 19:29 YES! This NEEDS to be said, especially the pandemic part, which is something I noticed too. Interestingly Australia handled the pandemic fairly well for a western nation, but I don't know how much of that has to do with our population being clustered in a few cities, having few state boarders to keep track of, and being an island. I don't want to get into politics too much but something happened recently that amazed me: one state election had its Premier win by an enormous landslide (we're talking 51/59 seats, with the result called a few MINUTES into vote counting) because the state loved his response to the pandemic THAT much. I was following Japan's pandemic response at points and it was all over the place. Sometimes it seemed good, then things would spike up again. A while back I found a survey on changes in "social cohesion" during the pandemic, but not only did Japan's "social cohesion" index decrease considerably (while most collectivist countries increased), it was one of the biggest drops of any country. It's only one survey and the results might be skewed by some questions, but it's still interesting. This is as good a place as any to say this... am I the only one who, visually, actually prefers "Desire" to "Desire and Hope"? The second, "good" version blots out most of the picture with one flat colour, losing the nice blending vortex of the original.
@@armedwithwings3953 do you dislike reading long paragraphs or dislike to read in general just for the kicks and giggles 🤨 Mind your own business, if you don’t like it/don’t want to read, then just keep scrolling.
What makes you think Yusuke is an INFJ /gen I mostly ask bc I’ve seen a lot of people type him as ISFP (mostly out of stereotype likely, haha artist, artisans, fun-ee) and INTJ, so INFJ never really crossed my mind Are you into cognitive functions to explain your reasoning or just going by letter dichotomy?? Sorry if I sound confrontational 😅, I’m just genuinely curious to see what/why you think since I don’t really have an opinion on his type myself
I like the revised “Desire and Hope” more because of the flat color-it feels like the intent of the piece is partially in the process of erasing the intricate vortex he had painted, turning the picture from a chaotic vortex into a “blank slate”. It’s a good way to represent his own personal journey and view of what “hope” means. Yusuke seems like the kind of artist who likes to make the physical act of creating and destroying his own art into part of the meaning of the work, not just the end product. (Which also contrasts with Madarame, who had come to care only about the flimsy outward appearance of art as a means of making money, with no care for how or why it’s being made-exemplified in how he took ownership of his students’ pieces as “his own” regardless of personal meaning, and how he could so carelessly alter the self-portrait Yusuke’s mother painted and replicate it over and over and over again.)
About mentorship, I only vaguely heard from my ceramic's professor that they left Japan to become a professional ceramicist (in the west?) because the mentorship was just too much of a long process for their tastes. They wanted to get recognition for their own work, as their own person immediately, rather than to be associated under someone for years. They might have felt that way because they were quite an individualistic kind of person.
While the video itself is to the high level of quality you put out, I was a little disappointed to see you refer to Stockholm syndrome as something other than utter crap. The initial incident it refers to was entirely made up to discredit a woman for criticizing the police.
Madarame was probably a sociopath. Sociopaths can feel some sense of care towards others but only if the person benefits them in some way. In the case of Yusuke, Madarame viewed him as a cash cow. He saw Yusuke was talented, even at a young age, and saw an opportunity to make money off of Yusuke's talent. So when Yusuke was sick, Madarame was worried because he wanted to make sure Yusuke was always in the best condition to make art. It would explain why he showed to have cared for Yusuke despite being a greedy exploitable bastard.
You make some good points, but this kind of behaviour (making sure Yusuke was always in the best condition to just make art.) isn't exactly exclusive to sociopaths. It could've been that he was just a shitty person; nothing more.
I really appreciate this video! I already knew a bit about filial piety, but I learned some new things too. Yusuke is my absolute favorite ever and a lot of that is because his themes are so steeped in Japanese culture and history, and how deeply philosophical his social link and his character in general is! He is just so amazing in every way! I still to this day think a lot about his themes.
guuuurl, I absolutely love your videos, it's quite rare to find these in depht cultural analyisis! they make me understand myself and my heritage a bit better too keep the good work!
Your videos are great and deserve more views, after finishing Royal and now Strikers over a period of 2 months I'm craving Persona content and out of very few exceptions I find it really hard to have a good watch or a conversation about the series. The Persona fanbase forums on reddit or any other page just revolve about memes, saying Makoto is best girl and dumb waifu wars and other superficial crap that never goes beyond that. I do have to disagree on a lot of the fanbase thinking Yuske is gay or bi, I just don't see it, if anything I just see him as an asexual person, who is obviously flustered by the likes of Ann or Makoto but he is just so focused on his art and his weird nature to even think about it. I also find it odd he is labeled as dumb but he is actually the most perceptive and people friendly despite his eccentricities besides Joker.
@Kira D I will be happier if they took out the romance thing and just add a canon relationship so it feels more real, whatever the preference. Dating sim games ruin a lot of the good conversations, I seen it even in western Rpgs like Bioware stuff for example. It also takes out the creep factor of dating your teacher and stuff like that imo.
finally someone else who sees Yusuke as ace - at first i thought maybe he was gay, but then I realised his blatant confusion to the concept of sexuality being attractive and not just artistic, and it struck me that my boys ace :D
Very interesting, if yuzuke hadnt fixes his internal relationship with his father figure, it would have reflected negatively on his own self worth "how can I be good if the one who taught me everything its a liar?" its very good how he didnt really forgave madarame for what he did, he just realized his trauma was twisting the perception of his own life
Ah! ❤ Yusuke is my FAVORITE! Being an Artist, I really appreciate how they portrayed an eccentric Artist in a more realistic and flattering way. Also he's just so cute and funny!! I am loving your series! Every vid is so good! Thank you! ✨
I've been looking forward to this video and it definitely didn't disappoint! Man, Yusuke is so interesting and just really diving deep into everything means a lot to me, as I personally relate to a good number of struggles that Yusuke has (as well as Makoto and Futaba), although not in a Japanese sociocultural sense. Just keep up the hard work and I look forward to seeing the tail end of these analyses!!
I think at some point Madarame does care enough about Yusuke until he saw that Yusuke have artistic talent. After that he exploits him and basically gaslighting until now.
I'm a straight man that never does same sex romances in games that have the option to do so. (i.e. Fallout 4. Give it a rest, Paladin Danse. For the 100th time, we're just homies.) However, as I ranked up with Yusuke, I actually looked forward to it. Maybe it's the fact that Matt Mercer portrayed him so damn well or maybe it was the fact that he is a kind, unique, intelligent, driven, thoughtful, and empathetic character with great development throughout the story. When I got to rank 9 with him, I was super bummed to see that it wasn't an option. My first playthrough was a "Harem Run" since I know that RPG romances often lead to unique buffs and stuff. But despite having every female confidant aside from Sae fall in love with my "strong silent type" act, it was Yusuke that I was constantly wining and dining all over Tokyo. Why? I always had the most fun with him. It's a damn shame that they didn't include the option because Atlus could have FINALLY made a good portrayal of a same sex romance in their game. Not offensive caricatures of one like Angel and Julian. They could have accidentally made something beautiful if they just pulled the trigger. It is most definitely a wasted opportunity if someone like me is just as disappointed about not being able to have something more with the best boi.
Late to the party in regards to this video, but can I say that I love the nuanced approach you took to filial piety in this? For some background, I'm of ethnic Chinese origin, and I think like many kids born into that cultural sphere, I've had significant phases in my life where I questioned just how much worth this value had. Being a working adult now (primarily in Japan of all places), and having had the opportunity to meet a lot more people has made me appreciate all the more the unconditional love of my family, even beyond all the harsh lessons they had to teach me. That you bring up how filial piety demands just as much PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY as it does obligation from the child is something I've rarely seen brought up (though sadly for good reason), and I do strongly appreciate how you're sharing a more nuanced approach of the philosophy. By the way, you alluded to it in your video, but I would say filial piety does express itself differently within the East Asia Cultural Sphere, and at least with the years I've spent in Japan, I can definitely say that there are significant differences between the way it's expressed in Japanese culture and Chinese culture. I won't go too overblown on it here, but, you know, if you ever want to discuss it...
The historical deep dive was extremely enlightening. I could understand the Stockholm Syndrome part of his arc, but I didn’t know how filial piety could feed into that mindset. Yusuke’s philosophical journey is really good. We need more stories that tell artists that making money for their work isn’t “selling out”. I wish one of the adults or one of the other PTs could help Yusuke with making budgets. Art boy doesn’t eat! That’s not good! I never considered the significance of Yusuke’s persona being the only Japanese figure. I knew it logically, but I didn’t make the connection of how that fits into his overall story. That’s really interesting to consider! Great analysis, per usual.
ahhh this is such a good analysis! i see way too many people thrown off by the murkiness in yusuke's character arc so i'm super happy you did my favorite confidant justice!
Thank you for explaining the culture of how the Asian country of how we are view respect for the elder and parents. Most of my friends in Canada don't understand about it, and always talk down about their parents and guardians. Except for the ones who lost their in death.
New sub here, coming over from Makoto's video. Just want to say excellent work with this analysis and congratulations in earning your degree. Hopefully you can find the time or place to celebrate.
i just found your channel tonight and im so glad i did since some of your videos look very interesting!!! yusuke is my favorite and im glad this got recommended to me. looking forward to binging a lot of your videos while i draw!!
I always found it weird the way that Yusuke is portrayed through the eyes of the main cast when the first meet him. I dunno it just made me feel weird that the cast thought of him as creepy for asking Ann to model for him. Is that maybe just not as normal in japan or something? Maybe it’s because I’m an artist and can understand the world through the point of view of an artist.
I think they assumed that Yusuke wanting Ann to model for him = him being another weird pervert who's attracted to her... when in actuality no he really DID just need a model for his art.
@@mystery8820 I do, but aren't you forgetting someone important? Perhaps the misunderstood companion/transporter/alarm clock/loner/tsundere/3rd best boy?
@@phantomslay5612 Mona. But Mona isn’t related to the culture, he is a mystic guide of the PTs and a would-be Velvet attendant with the color scheme he has. Plus he doesn’t have a personally-made human form, he just took the shape and form of some actor he saw on TV.
@@mystery8820 But his problems and character arc are just as relevant as any of the other characters. Just because he isn't a human, that doesn't mean he has no connection to culture.
You know, what makes the whole Yusuke lobster meme even funnier is that his name contains the Japanese word for "shellfish." The writers knew exactly what they were doing there.
@@mystery8820 Given. According to a website called "Behind the Name," the name Yusuke is a combination of "Yu" which means "assistant" (he is acting as Madarame's assistant when we meet him) and "suke" which can mean either "help" (as he was doing for Madarame and later does for the Phantom Thieves) or "shellfish" (lobster memes).
SPOILERS FOR P5 ROYAL One detail I really like about Yusuke is that in the ideal world Maruki created for him his mom is still dead. He didn't even want her to come back to life, since he never really knew her. All he wanted was to have a good father and teacher with no abuse and have his mother's talent recognized. you could argue that Atlus just didn't want to make his mom's model, dialogues, voice, personality etc. but we're not here to do that kind of speculation
Yusuke dont have stockholm syndrome though. For Stockholm syndrome to set in you need to hold a person captive in close proximity for a certain amount of time... there are some more specifics about it but I cant remember all of it. Id say Yusuke was closer to a cult mentality than SS. You actually hit some of the cult points with Yusukes story... belief in a popular personality that is very hard to break, theft from the believer, separation from family. It may not revolved around a god like most cults do, but some cults dont revolve around gods, they can revolve just around a concept or a personality. Either way, it would have been very easy to make Yusuke loyal without causing SS because with how young he must have been, it would have been easy to instill loyalty in him...Little kids are very naive and will believe the things you tell them, like santa is real. He wouldnt have known anything else...
You are a Japanese descendent, but you have Japanese ascendence. You don't have Japanese descendence unless you have offspring, in which you would be their ascendence. It bothers me to listen that in every video knowing it's wrong. I'm still watching your videos, very informative!
