Last night I made a quick tweet about how I think Persona games (particular from Persona 3 onwards) tend to be fundamentally conservative games. In worlds filled with magic powers, shadow selves, and literal gods there's an understanding that many of the most villainous people you can know are folks in positions of social/political power who weaponize their status in order to prey on those beneath them. This is a particular focus of Persona 5 but it extends even back to back to a game like Persona 2 and characters like Tatsuzou Sudou. Although these games acknowledge the social structures that lead to particularly vicious kinds of abuse, there is tendency for our protagonist to then fold themselves into those power structures. In games that focus less on real-life political allegory, there's still pattern of protagonists eventually accepting the societal roles that they're initial chafing against. It's a very common occurrence in the series. clockwork!
Persona 4 is the chief culprit here. Yukiko struggles with the idea that her presumed inheritance of the Amagi Inn is an imposition on her life but makes peace with that fact and eventually prepares herself for that role. Chie confronts Adachi, shocked that anyone who chose to be a police officer would do so for selfish reasons or betray the ideal image she holds of that job. Though confronted with the ways in which the system enabled Adachi's murders, she ultimately decided that she wants to become a police officer. Just as some examples. there's more!
(I'm not gonna talk about Naoto. That's a minefield. as a trans critic people ask what I think about Naoto quite often. my answer is I like Naoto quite a bit and while I appreciate the queer read I don't need her story to be actually about transness. my tongue in cheek deep position here is that I think she's the damn coolest thing in the Dancing All Night opening movie. absolute fire!)
Persona fans are totally reasonable human beings. by which I mean that they might be the most electric and fuckin' absurd fandom I've ever encountered. While some people agreed with my read of the series, many others swarmed in. Which is fine enough. That's just what happens when you're visible on Twitter. I don't really have an interest in outlining the series in gross detail although, contrary to many accusations, I have played all the mainline games. One thing that can never be hurled my way is a suggestion that I don't play videos games. This criticism doesn't arise out of nowhere though I admit I didn't exactly expect it to become a trending topic floating in the "For You" tab. I was tweeting before bed.
Lesson learned! This fandom is wild! So it goes!
I've been thinking about people's responses and I want to venture into fraught territory to talk about a particularly bad habit I see from many fans. Which I think can be extended to things like ongoing debates about localization as much as they can apply to this little tempest in a teapot. Which is that I've grown somewhat concerned with he ways in which RPG fans (intentionally or not) exoticize Japan as a means to defend their favorite games from critique. It's kinda bad!
and I'm gonna risk a ramble exploring the topic...
this is a very good post that is very interesting to read through -- it echoes similar feelings I have towards Persona, specifically "Persona The Game with its Fanbase, at large"
It is very difficult to say anything about Persona (and truthfully any Japanese media at this point) without a swarm of people coming for you saying it isn't your place to criticize, since you cannot comprehend The Very Mysterious Japanese Culture It Derives From. I have found that these people do not actually wish to engage with Japanese Culture but they want to love whatever they think is right about it.
Persona games try to explore societal issues and, more often than not, fail at making a point anyway. This is extremely visible in P4 and P5 and also one of the reasons I thoroughly dislike P5. P4G is still my favorite game! but as OP points out, the protagonists are never free from what the game tries to explore. It is okay to say that.
P5, on the other hand, fails a lot quicker in my opinion. While the first palace you explore has the backdrop of a teacher abusing his female students, you also end up pimping out Ann (and it is Played Up For Laughs even) in the next chapter of the game.
The thing is, you can look up news and papers about Japan at any time and see exactly what these games try to talk about. The societal pressure of being a first born, corruption in the workplace, a loneliness epidemic, sexual harassment and how women are often mistreated to name a few. But Japan's weird veneer still endures in the eyes of most people.
I'm very sorry to OP since these additions might not seem worthwhile, but I think about Persona a lot, too. It's a really weird game and fandom. I still love the franchise for all of its good, but it is really weird to be able to look at a thing you like whilst being capable of critical thinking -- when others refuse to even entertain your (documented and educated) thoughts about it.
