Big Shell Incident

This is going to be the worst Let’s Play ever. I don’t have the right equipment, I don’t even know if anyone can hear me and I can only play for like a day to get as far as possible. (hence the beginner level). 

I’ve played a bit of Persona 4 before, so it’s not entirely unreasonably new to me. Still. Just expect mostly grinding in the dungeons because last time I played I was made out of fail. 

Technical problems means I’m going right back to tweeting about Persona 4 instead. 

cogito-ergo-wtf:

kurosu:

chocotaur:

A criticism of Persona 4: The Animation

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THIS IS A REALLY GOOD POST AND I LOVE YOU

Unless they end up addressing this issue responsibly, I completely agree with you. I hope they do address it responsibly, though. A lot is going to depend on the eventual outcome, as in, whether the characters come to terms with their homophobia and get past it. (And if I’m not putting any of this right, remember that In addition to being straight, I’m also an old man, so I may not always use the right words here.) In the game at least, Kanji seems to come to terms with his sexuality, and by the end of the game Yosuke seems to not so much be homophobic around Kanji, but simply needling him to push his buttons and get a rise out of him (subjective interpretation, of course) because he thinks it’s funny to piss Kanji off. One thing I like, though, even though it’s presented as a defense mechanism, is that Kanji breaks the unrealistic stereotype that many people—especially those my age and older—have of gay or bisexual males, by being, arguably, the most masculine character in the game.

I think it’s important to show homophobia in fiction, because it’s a very real social issue that needs to be addressed, but it has to be handled well. I revealed one of my protagonists in my old comic to have a hidden homophobia, despite living with two bisexual women (Talk about hypocrisy! And yes, the other characters point that out to him.) and being in favor—in an abstract, intellectual way—of gay rights, to the point at which he loved to beat up gay-bashers. Once he discovered that a man he felt somewhat close to was gay, though, he kind of freaked out. I’m sure that was uncomfortable for many people to see and read, but I went out of my way to make it obvious that those around him condemned his behavior, and the entire point of the storyline was to show him growing and changing and learning and realizing that his discomfort around gay people, and his fear that others would think he was gay, came from his own insecurities as someone who saw himself as being hyper-masculine, and who felt unnecessarily threatened.

Thing is, even while he was having that reaction, he knew it was wrong, and that it was hypocritical. And although it was hard for him because of his unaddressed emotional issues, he wanted to learn and change, and eventually did so. This character wasn’t a bad guy at heart, and he was ashamed of his own reaction. He wasn’t hostile toward gay people; he was—literally—afraid of them, and of the perceived (but non-existent) threat to his masculinity and his own sexuality. I mean, this guy could literally throw cars around (it was a humorous superhero comic), but was terrified when he ventured out of his comfort zone to go to a gay bar with his friend—which, again, showed that he wanted to overcome his homophobia, even though he was literally shaking.

But I had to first present the problem in order to show that growth, and in so doing, trying to teach—yes, through the use of comedy—how sad and harmful and ridiculous homophobia actually is, and how so many people’s perceptions are of the gay community are completely unfounded. And that, as uncomfortable and unpopular as it is to say, there are some otherwise good people out there who simply need to be educated, who want to change, and that once they are educated, do indeed change their attitudes. (My character ended up playing basketball every other Saturday with some guys he’d met on his first trip to a gay bar.)

I don’t know if that’s what the P4 anime will end up doing, but I truly and sincerely hope so. I’d love to see one or more of the other characters call Yosuke and Yu out on their attitude, and to see their attitudes change by the end of the series the way it seemed to me Yosuke’s attitude had changed in the game from, “You make me nervous,” to “It’s fun to piss off Kanji.” Not saying he was right, even then, but it showed progress with his attitude.

(Incidentally, one of the best lines of the game: “Oh, I get it. So what you’re really saying is, ‘hey, Kanji, would you please beat the shit out of me?’” or something like that.)

And that’s pretty much all I had to say. Let the flame war begin. ;-)

This whole thing is worth reading.

I am refraining from making comments, as I have not watched P4 on the basis that I don’t want to spoil the game for myself and clearly I haven’t played the game. Based on the little of P4 I’ve played, I thought while it simplified teenage issues way too much it was pretty well meaning and it was the game best described as “How To Stop Being A Judgmental Asshat 101”.  While by all means it is not the stopping point, but it’s a solid, at times moving starter. 

The Yosuke’s homophobia situation is interesting. I haven’t played it yet, but out of the bits I’ve heard it made me quite sick  - call this a berserk button of mine. Yes, that’s the game version. I get this feeling that P4 suffered from a misaimed fandom in a way. Yosuke is seen as such a fandom favourite, that whatever behaviour he had was considered as okay because “lol he’s just trollin” or “lol he’s a funny boy”. I admit that I found Yosuke hilarious, as if there’s one fictional character who’d spam a 4chan thread with “u smell” it’s him; but once people get to the stage of “if he’s joking then he can do no wrong” that’s a bit much. 

But that’s not Persona 4 team’s problem. Because in the game, they stated the harm of homophobia, and they gave the opportunity for the player to be supportive and kind toward Kanji. 

What (sounds like) that has happened in the series though is a flat out worrying. I don’t expect my fictions to be free of bigotry - in fact just about everything I ever wrote can be summed down with “a bunch of dickheads being dickheads”. But this kind of bigotry coming from a character who’s characteristics are kind, loving and accepting? Now that’s just bad writing. 

And please no “but it’s Japanese so it’s okay”. It’s also from the same people who managed Persona 4 the Game, and if that’s not telling on what they are capable of doing, I don’t know what is. 

(via anexperimentallife)

Hopefully, via the phone.

Alex, Snake, Trizzopi. What have you done. I’m hooked. Hooked I tell you!