Persona 3 The Answer & Japan's 𐒖υÎ𝙲ÎᕷҼ Epidemic (The Mental Health Taboo & P3's "answer")

when it comes to persona 3 the journey no matter where you stand on the game design aspect nearly all of us can at least give credit where credit is due to its powerful lessons surrounding death but as for the answer that's a different story right it's unfortunately the much more divisive aspect of fez's narrative compared to the journey like look i'm not here to defend its game design but i will do so for its themes and cast dynamics its story really is as novel as the journeys was namely because it's not afraid to dive into what grief looks like especially when the topic of mental health was and still is taboo in japan but before we proceed i'd like to mention a couple things the first is just a trigger warning as i will be dissecting japan's high prevalence of suicide later in the video and secondly though my partner video about the journey isn't required to enjoy this one it's definitely recommended since i'll be building off the japanese concepts we explored in it like shkataganai and the last decades of the 90s and 2000s you can find it in the cards above in case you missed it but back to the topic of mental health there's still a strong stigma surrounding it in japan much more so than western countries at least just like i've highlighted in some of my persona 5 analyses videos like the ruji and futaba ones studies into public beliefs regarding depression and other mental health disorders found that compared to western counterparts japanese people are more likely to attribute such struggles to weakness of character or simply the nerves of said individual over things like biological factors genetics or difficult socio-demographic issues like times of high unemployment or getting divorced and so on so even though japan's mental health services and resources have seen much improvement over the 21st century it still reports greater underutilization than other nations this was especially true during the first decade of the 21st century which lo and behold was when p3 was released and as a personal anecdote being a part of the japanese american community my whole life i've seen how we share in this heritage mental health is just the topic most in our circles try and skirt around and pretend doesn't exist that's why it sent a huge message when my dad and i went to counseling just prior to my mom's passing and in the months following all while having no qualms about it being publicly known now a big reason why this topic is so taboo is due to the weighty societal pressures of a collectivist and shame culture in collectivist cultures a much larger responsibility for any one individual's care is placed upon their family it's common to want to quote unquote keep it in the family so as not to impose further burden on society societal values are heavily influenced by this collectivist and confucian heritage the resulting environment places great emphasis on duty and obligation where any one person's problems will reflect poorly on their entire family since there's a heavy amount of shame imposed when you can't conform to the norm people end up just blaming themselves and electing to keep their problems secret the whole mentality of why can't i shape up like everyone else or what's wrong with me that i struggle with this and can't fulfill my duties is a big reason why japanese families refuse to seek help for the hikikomori-related issues i talked about last video they tragically see it as a shameful stain and reminder of their perceived failures as a family so i know this was a whole lot but i needed to get the point across in order to highlight how truly novel the answer was for being a japanese game of its time with it essentially being just one big group therapy session where we get to see the entire cast reacting differently to the protagonist's death i've had some experience leading grief support groups in the past and can attest that not everyone copes the same way that's why i love how messy the interpersonal stuff gets among the p3 cast especially during the penultimate conflict among themselves but rewinding back to the beginning of the answer we see how igus has basically shut down all emotions she just tries not to feel at all and even prepares to socially withdraw from her friends with the intention of not returning to school now social withdrawal and even apathy towards previously enjoyable things are all potential symptoms of depression meanwhile we have jinpei mitsuru and fuka who seem to be holding up fairly well and then there's yukati especially later on when she picks a fight with everyone now before i really get into yukata's character i just want to highlight how the answers decision to depict some characters as strongly resilient while others are beyond angry some are withdrawing and others are just curious as to what actually happened to the protagonist is all just a nice realistic representation that goes against the common misconception at least in the western english-speaking world that the five stages of grief denial anger bargaining depression then finally acceptance is the same linear process for everyone like of course some will find that their coping journey proceeds very much like what is listed but for as many people who generally resonate with this order there are just as many others who skip stages jump around and even repeat steps the point is that there's no right way to grieve it's simply a unique journey for each individual so with that said going back to yukari and my p3 arcana analyses she's always been very knee-jerk reactive as is shown early on in her relationships with the mc and mitsuru then during the fresh grieving process in the answer yukari very much embodies this whole no point in talking about the past it's time to move forward mindset even akihiko presents similarly since he asked metis early on what's the point of seeing these scenes from the past but for the sake of one's mental health it is important to confront one's past in order to move forward for the p3 cast their personas are the literal embodiment of their strength to keep carrying slash fighting on even in the face of adversity so with each door showing the initial moment and reason they awakened to their personas they were able to revisit where it all began in general revisiting low points you've previously overcame can help reframe present day challenges into something more manageable and remind you of how far you've come and without confronting our past overall we can't be more mindful about the learned behaviors or mindsets that affect our present day lives ones that affect our relationships and how we treat others and how we view and treat ourselves even throughout essentially the first half of the answer yukari repeatedly makes it very clear that nothing comes out of seeing the past and that they should hurry up and just get this all done with now it's understandable why people hope to get past these feelings quickly without actually diving into the hurt or trauma itself like everyone is entitled to their own grieving schedule and it's important not to rush it but at some point the underlying hurt needs to be addressed or it'll only continue to fester we see this in action when yukari lashes out at akihiko ken and igis when the group's trying to decide what to do with the keys she says pretty cruel things to all of them which all actually stems from her attempt to push aside her real feelings yukari was trying so hard to just move past it like jhumpe and fuka as just a couple examples were able to do already but in doing this she did a disservice to her own healing process and her cherished relationships when yukari finally acknowledges her real feelings her despair about not having been there in the protags final moments and her jealousy of igis because of that she was finally free to begin forgiving herself and repairing her relationship with igis now before we move on to erebus i want to wrap up the section with this last thought i think it's understandable to wish that our own personal development our character growth so to speak was always a linear upwards trajectory as we see in many stories in an ideal world our hard work to overcome our most painful losses and most challenging obstacles would completely pay off and will always come out as a better version of ourselves in this way i think many people find it comforting when media presents characters that are always progressing forward versus ones who struggle with the same difficulties multiple times and who quote unquote regress for a time it's okay to feel comfort in the former but it's also important to be mindful of how media can normalize such unrealistic expectations like using yukati as an example it seems she was hoping to have moved past all this for good after having coped with her father's death in the journey already but that's very often not the case in real life even people who show strong resilience towards some painful losses may find they feel entirely differently in the face of another but to yucate's credit she does apologize to igis for how she's treated her and even does her best to rekindle the friendship at the very end of the answer now before we continue i just like to mention that if you enjoy what i do and would like to support the channel you can do so via my patreon there are a variety of perks including early access weekly updates name and video credits and discord stuff but now we've reached the final section which has to do with igis and erebus so what makes arabist so significant what does this concept of people's desire to die say about the japanese mentality well before we look into that let's briefly go over the extent of igis loss unlike the rest of the cast i guess tied her future directly with the protagonist so when he passed on she suddenly lost her role as protector her whole purpose for living she admits she withdrew to her room not wanting to do anything but sleep and chase after him in her dreams apathy is often a symptom of depression and depression is linked to higher rates of suicide but what does this have to do with erebus well looking back over centuries of japanese history you can see that culturally there's a much more lenient view of taking one's own life from the ancient samurai tradition of seppuku to the kamikaze pilots of world war ii an additional reason may have to do with how japan banned christianity for the entirety of the shogunate era and therefore did not come to see suicide as a religious taboo like in many judeo-christian traditions now adding on the prominent concepts of shame and honor covered earlier in the video instead well what we're left with is the sort of idealized view of suicide historically it's been seen as more honorable to die than surrender or be taken prisoner of war and certainly even as a way to atone for one's failures remember that an individual's actions reflects on one's entire family all this responsibility can weigh heavily on a person and get this comparatively to other countries life insurance policies in japan are much more lacks when it comes to paying out for suicide other countries won't do so if it's any earlier than two years after taking out a policy or won't even do so at all this paper written for japan's institute of public health outlines how a substantial number of those who take their own lives do so as a way to take responsibility for their perceived failures and so that their family can live comfortably for a while off the insurance payout various japanese government officials have killed themselves in just the past few decades alone often times when word of scandal gets out the minister of agriculture in 2007 the minister of finance in 2012 as well as a notable official in 2018 and in regards to the general japanese populace the number of lives lost to suicide remained over 30 000 a year for 14 straight between 1998 and 2012 right during the time of p3's development and release this is exactly why i guess words at the end are so powerful that as long as we are alive we have the power to change i mean i can sincerely feel for the p3 cast i get when your life's purpose is stripped from you since i've also had to pivot a ton since i was first paralyzed and diagnosed with transverse myelitis my original goal was to either enter the foreign service or commit to international social work slash humanitarian efforts abroad but that clearly didn't pan out due to my health and mobility issues but personally i am a person of faith and truly believe there is a purpose for each person out there or in other words when one door closes another one opens it obviously hasn't been easy and i know i'll still probably struggle with low-key depression for the rest of my life while dealing with my chronic illness but if you're currently struggling yourself i encourage you to seek out mental health resources however you can even just some personal introspection to figure out what brings you joy can go a long way i feel very blessed to have found a way to use my experiences and what i studied on this very youtube channel via providing some biopsychosocial and cultural context to our favorite games so to wrap things up as is explored throughout persona 3 fez reaching out to others and sharing in each other's burdens can go a long way like how yukata was there for me to do after the latter's father passed away and then vice versa with me to do supporting yukati during the answer just like how those hikikomori peer groups covered in last video were trying to help each other reintegrate into society and sure the answer didn't address every problematic aspect of mental health in japan but it definitely did a lot in showing it's okay to open up to others about your problems especially when considering the cultural climate of the time and so i'll reiterate what i just said once more as long as we are alive we have the power to change yes as long as we are alive we have an opportunity to discover a new purpose anyway please like and subscribe if you like this video and consider supporting me on patreon if you enjoy what i'm doing come join our welcoming discord community and follow me on twitter and on twitch if you wish also check out my ganshin lore channel finally i want to thank all my wonderful patrons for their support especially jared breland andreas hansen captain hobo big clingy sam bezjack francesco santoyo rhaego silverwind 847 emmyonolin gg sora platinum rose malcolm lowry killer ninja 151 melanie gutierrez unholy biscuit leviathan 8685 eden corsef and scarmillion

Channel: LadyVirgilia

Views: 17,442

Keywords: persona 3 fes, persona 3 analysis, p3, persona 3, ladyvirgilia, persona 3 the answer, persona 3 grief, p3 yukari

Id: 0iKkljAlzwA

Length: 18min 10sec (1090 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 13 2022