Finally, P4 icons :D

[gogmagog]

.....wow, Kanji's dungeon was, ummmm...how shall I put it...unsubtle? The lisp, the muscley Gigases wearing rainbow spandex speedos, the fact that it was in the bathhouse of GAY LUUUUUUURVE...I know there are some people who are all "Kanji's not gay, he's just confused! He just wants acceptance from someone!"

I think those people are blind and quite possibly deaf as well. HIS SHADOW JUST SAID WE THREE GUYS WOULD MAKE GOOD BOYFRIENDS, HIS "SPECIAL" WAS ABOUT FINDING LOVE IN A MEN-ONLY BATHHOUSE, WHAT PART ABOUT THAT SCREAMS "STRAIGHT" TO YOU

Also Yosuke's gay panic in that dungeon was kind of hilarious (especially if you talk to him in the dungeon using the square button, and he's creeped out by feeling someone something blowing in his ear). I kind of adore Yosuke so far, especially since I just got the S.Link event where he comes into my room and immediately asks me whether I store my porn under the futon. Though at least he promised that he'll still be my friend even if I'm into really freaky porn...good to know!

Also, when I told him I hadn't invited any girls into my room, he said I may be more of a "man's man" than he thought, which was followed by the message "Yosuke seems happy." HMMMMMMM

And then there's skanky nympho Shadow Yukiko's insistence that Chie is one of her potential "princes," and in fact Chie seems to be her preferred candidate...

Strangely, the most heterosexual-seeming one so far is Teddie, given his attempts to put the moves on Yukiko. Since he's an empty teddy-bear mascot suit who talks, this is less reassuring of normality than it may seem. Also he keeps making "beary" bad puns, which can't be helping his chances any. :(

W, WHY IS THIS GAME SO QUESTIONABLE AND AWESOME

Comments

[ahebert.livejournal.com]

I can see the other side too, Yosi. Remember. A Shadow is partly fears. He fears being seen as gay, so this manifests in his Shadow. There's evidence for both sides, and so far the makers of the game haven't weighed in on one side or the other.

[yoshitsune.livejournal.com]

True, the Shadow IS partly fears, but it's also desires. Everything the Shadow feels is also part of what its analogue feels (as has been made abundantly clear), even if they won't necessarily admit to it at first.

And let's face it, Kanji's Shadow was acting a lot more like it represented desires than fears throughout most of that dungeon. XD

[tastystirfry.livejournal.com]

Thank you Josefsune, thank you. I know... a lot of people who were really, really offended by Kanji's dungeon (URGH THEY BEAT THE GAY OUTTA HIM) and Yosuke's "homophobia."

[jokersama.livejournal.com]

Really?! I thought they beat the fear out of him, not beat the queer out of him. It was his fear of being rejected for acting naturally for him that was screwing him up, wasn't it?

Where are you FINDING these people? Because if it's gamefaqs, I'll laugh at you for expecting sense over there.

[tastystirfry.livejournal.com]

No, it's actually at a place that usually has sensible people. Even one of the guys that localized it was kinda upset about Yosuke's attitudes!

(...it was the same guy who put "Harshin' the tards" in P3)

Of course, one of these folks is one that's basically been like "URGH P4 ISN'T P3. P3 WAS SUCH A FRESH AND UNIQUE EXPERIENCE AND P4 JUST ISN'T CLICKING WITH ME AARGH" so...

[yoshitsune.livejournal.com]

Well, I mean, Yosuke's attitudes aren't WONDERFULLY UNDERSTANDING AND ACCEPTING, but they're not that unusual, and they're certainly not homophobic except in the most ridiculously mild way (if they were, he and Kanji wouldn't get along so well normally).

And I mean, I liked P3, but it was hardly THAT unique; it's not like dating sim and RPG haven't been combined before, and really all it brought was the combination of school sim and RPG (and even that's been done before, though not in any games that made it stateside). I kind of roll my eyes at stuff like that, especially since so often a lot of the things people LURRRVE about P3 are things that P2 did, earlier and better. It makes me sad that people so often don't bother to go back and play the earlier games. :(

These damn kids need to get off my damn lawn! *shakes walker at these whippersnappers*

[yoshitsune.livejournal.com]

I second what Puu said re: Kanji's dungeon.

Also really, calling Yosuke's behavior homophobia? I mean, they ARE friends, so it's not like he hates him for being gay; it seems kind of like typical "I don't know anything about gay people except that they like guys, does that mean he will jump me in the night?" panic that straight guys occasionally feel around gay guys, especially when they don't really know any gay people very well.

And I thought the game lampshaded the silliness of that pretty well during the summer camp scene, where right after Yosuke expressed these fears re: Kanji, Chie and Yukiko come into the guys' tent and basically express the same fears over Yosuke, by which he is quite offended (though given the pervy swimsuit scene the next day, they probably had more reason to be creeped out by him than he did of Kanji).

ETA: And honestly, the only thing I could see being offended by in Kanji's dungeon was the fact that Shadow Kanji was such a gay stereotype, but then so was everyone else's (even if all the females but Chie so far seem to fit the "skanky nympho" stereotype with their shadows).

[tastystirfry.livejournal.com]

One person said they were pretty much soured on the game because the camping scene was like "The game turned into a let's laugh at the queer minstrel show."

That's what I pointed out about the Shadows. You don't beat the queer out of Kanji anymore than you beat the skank out of Yukiko.

What makes it all really super incredibly funny is the next dungeon that comes up after Kanji's and the boss contained within.

[yoshitsune.livejournal.com]

One person said they were pretty much soured on the game because the camping scene was like "The game turned into a let's laugh at the queer minstrel show."

...WHAT. First off, if we're meant to laugh at anyone in that scene, I think it's Yosuke (who's all OHNOEZ AM I GONNA GET RAPED).

Second, I find it funny that they're calling it a "queer minstrel show," since the game seems to go out of its way, once you get out of his dungeon, to NOT be making Kanji the stereotypical gay figure of fun you so often get in Japanese media (see: Enchanted Arms). Kanji ISN'T the comic relief any more than any other character; the only one who DOES perhaps occupy that position is the aggressively hetero Yosuke.

And yeah, I'm in the middle of Marukyu Striptease right now - one thing you can say about the Shadows, they don't really bother with subtlety. XD

[tastystirfry.livejournal.com]

Ugh Yosi it's almost as if you're a normal, rational person and not a reactionary overly sensitive internet person.

[yoshitsune.livejournal.com]

Jeez, you're right. ZOMG CLEARLY THROUGH YUKIKO AND RISE PERSONA 4 IS SAYING THAT ALL WOMEN ARE SECRETLY SKANKY HOS

ALSO THIS GAME CONDONES THE FURRY SUBCULTURE, WITH IMPLICATIONS OF WOMAN-ON-MASCOT-SUIT ROMANCE, AND IT SHOULD BE STOPPED

[demios40.livejournal.com]

W, WHY IS THIS GAME SO QUESTIONABLE AND AWESOME

I can only assume the answer lies somewhere in the fact that Atlus is behind it.

[yoshitsune.livejournal.com]

True, they do seem to specialize in that...still, they never cease to surprise me with it!

[remliel.livejournal.com]

Best. Icon. Evar.

[remliel.livejournal.com]

P4 kicks ass.

And trust me, Teddy becomes the all-conquering pimpmaster. You will see him own the male cast of P4 repeatedly. Except for Souji, but only because he can actually get a real girlfriend.

As far as Kanji is concerned, I think it's some of column A and some of column B. There's actually a pretty good chance that Kanji is, in the end, bi. I don't know if he's the raging gay that his Shadow portrayed him as, but that's only one part of him.

If they let you date Kanji, that would have clinched it, of course. Sadly, they don't.

[yoshitsune.livejournal.com]

Well, see, I could buy Kanji as bi; it's the people who claim that he's actually straight and isn't interested in guys that make me want to bang my head against the wall. XD

And yeah, I wish they'd let you date Kanji; it's ridiculous that you can date any of your fellow female students with a pulse (even loli!Ayane, which EWEWEWEWEW), but you can't date the one guy who has a thing for guys IN CANON, WTF. (Though I can see why they do it: if the frequent fanboy reaction to Kanji is "LALALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU, HE'S STRAIGHT AND JUST CONFUSED," their heads might explode if you could date him.)

[remliel.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Jesus Christ, Ayane was so loli. It made /my/ skin crawl and Ive got a higher SAN resist than most people.

Oh well. There's always Naoto. That'll be really funny.

[yoshitsune.livejournal.com]

I'd already been spoiled for Naoto, I'm afraid (though not by the artbook, as so many other people were). Still, I probably would have guessed within the first appearance, just from the voice acting.

But yeah...I mean, I can generally handle a certain amount of moe, but she's a fricking HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT who looks like she's about NANAKO'S age (which makes dating her SOOOOO much creepier, when you think about it).

[braaaiiins.livejournal.com]

Still, I probably would have guessed within the first appearance, just from the voice acting.

This. Seriously, who was surprised by that?

[jokersama.livejournal.com]

Yeah, to be fair, US voice acting doesn't have the same tradition of female-voice-actors-doing-young-boy-voices.

Dating her wasn't too creepy! CREEPY is all the fanart I've found of age-17-Nanako-calling-you-oniichan. D:

[yoshitsune.livejournal.com]

Well, frequently it does! But mostly it's limited to prepubescent kids, not high school-aged guys. XD

Also ewww re: Nanako art. Dojima would not approve! :(