Ryuji Sakamoto Deserves Better (Persona 5)

Persona 5 Royal has some of the most well-written characters that I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing in a video game with the vast majority of them having been given a lot of time and care to develop throughout the course of the story by Atlas characters like Aki Kumi and Dr maroi will likely stay with me for the rest of my life and other characters like Haru and yusuke are characters that while I may not have resonated with them upon their initial introduction I grew to really adore them the more and more I learned about them in their stories but one character whether it be in Persona 5 Persona 5 Royal or Persona 5 Strikers that I think has never really gotten the credit he deserves is none other than ryuji sakam and so today I want to talk about why I believe that ryuji is such an incredible character and also why I think that despite everything incredible that he does he always seems to get relegated to the background despite being the first Phantom Thief we are introduced to in the game and quite frankly he is the character that I was by far the most excited to learn more about as time went on and with this screenshot going around online I couldn't help myself and had to make this video well it won't be quite as detailed as my psychology of videos typically are on this channel I more so wanted to dissect why ruji a character who showed so much promise throughout the course of the game never got the same love attention and respect that the rest of the cast received and I think that this is boiled down to the comedic relief archetype that he was forced into after the first Arc of the game to quickly recap when we're introduced to ryuji he's a closed off and bitter young man who loads the school volleyball coach kashida with a burning passion and he wears that passion on his sleeve as the beginning of the game progresses Joker and ryuji find themselves ushered into the metaverse and ultimately stumble upon kida's Palace now this beginning Palace is interesting interesting because it illustrates to us just how seriously ryuji is taking the atrocities that kashida is committing within the school and how much emphasis he places on his desire to stop kashida from doing this to anyone else but while most palaces in the game are heavily focused on one new party member kashia's Palace serves as an introduction not only to ryuji but to an and Morana as well and while it makes sense that an gets a bigger Spotlight based on the events of the story On's introduction to the metaverse immediately sees ryuji's involvement and importance in this particular portion of the narrative begin to take the back seat to an which is a problem that would persevere to varying extents throughout the rest of the game as yusuke gets a lot of screen time and development through mame's Palace but then his importance diminishes when Makoto is introduced during Kiros and so on and so on but as more and more party members got added rui's involvement in the main narrative barring being a major part of all of the decisions and conversations surrounding what corrupt adults they should Target next became increasingly comedic in nature and more tangential with his next big role in the story being his argument with Morana that eventually made Morana run away from the Phantom Thieves for a while we learn that ryuji comes from a household with an abusive father that ultimately abandoned him and his mother which is what motivated him to become a star runner so that he could eventually help to take some of the weight off of his mom's shoulders in the absence of his father but when kashida didn't want the track team taking any of the spotlight from his volleyball players he started to share with the entire School the details of ryuji's family history as a way to antagonize ryuji to the point that when ryuji ended up attacking him out of anger he broke ryuji's leg in quote unquote self-defense which caused a domino effect that ultimately led to the track team being disbanded this series of events in turn ostracized him from his former teammates which at the time were his only support system outside of his mom this labeled him a troublemaker in school and tore away his aspirations for the future all in one Fell Swoop and even after going through all of this he was considered to be the one at fault by everyone while kashida Remain the school's Golden Goose I mean can you blame the poor kid for leaning into this Troublemaker reputation after this can you blame him for dying his hair blonde as a display of defiance all of this is such a perfect setup for ryuji to be the heart and soul of the Phantom thieves and their Spirit of rebellion moving forward so like what happened I mean let's just contrast how ryuji is treated in his Social Link versus how he's treated by the main narrative ative of Persona 5 Royal and Persona 5 Strikers because it is absolute Whiplash ryuji's social link is honestly a very Earnest and realistic window into his character as he opens up to Joker about how his father had physically abused both himself and his mother before ultimately leaving as well as how kashida had used this information to antagonize him enough to get ryuji to lash out like we already kind of discussed while we as the player know it's not his fault we get to see how he copes with the guilt of getting the track team shut down and his feelings of ostracization that accompanied this while it's easy from the outside looking in to acknowledge well this was kida's fault because the track team blames him this leads him to blame himself as well which especially at that age is a pretty logical progression so when he hears that they are being reinstated but that kida's lap dog Mr yuchi would be in charge he takes action to try and help the track team to be in a good position moving forward he exposes yami's plan to two key members of the track team which ultimately leads to them reconciling with him and getting the PTA to OU Yamauchi and sees the team bring back their Old Coach from before kashida took over this social link allows us to see just how much ryuji has grown through his experiences as a phantom Thief being able to control his anger when his former teammates bring up his parents and being able to empathize with their frustrations we see ryuji be able to reflect on how much it hurt that he had lost his place with the track team and how being able to connect with Joker has helped him to be able to move forward and find a place where he won't be abandoned it's fantastic to see him distance himself from the pain and guilt of his actions and associating them with being the thing that gave kashida the excuse to disband the track team as well as understanding that if it hadn't been him who had done it it would have been someone else it was just a matter of time before kashida figured out how he could get the Track Team out of the Limelight and while I could go on and on about how good of an arc and how good of a social length that this is if you don't engage with it you get very few looks throughout the course of the game into these internal struggles he has as a character while he is one of the driving forces behind wh to go after terrible adults who are making the world a terrible Place likely in massive part because of his experiences personally we never really see him have the chance to grow past kida's Palace in the main story itself only in this social link in the main story his defining qualities are his happy go-lucky attitude his constant bickering with Morana while every other character gets either a palace in Persona 5 or at the very least a jail in Persona 5 Strikers dedicated to them in their development as a character character so that we the players can get a greater insight into what makes them tick ryuji never really does after On's introduction which ultimately leads to her story being the focal point for the rest of the palace even though ryuji also has a ton of baggage surrounding the fact that kamoshida had quite literally broken his leg and took his future from him by force while I genuinely don't think it's necessarily a bad thing that he was slotted into being a comedic relief character as every story needs some form of levity from time to time and Persona deals with a lot of really heavy topics so having these lighter moments can be really important so that's not quite what bothers me about this situation I mean it's not exactly a coincidence that so many games in anime have a character who gets treated just like ryuji what bothers me is when these comedic moments undercut just how good of a character he actually is just because a character is known for you know being funny doesn't mean it's inherently bad it's just when these moments are implemented I can understand why a lot of people get upset with the gag that after he risks his life running through the pain of his leg to save everyone else's lives and is momentarily presumed to be dead after the group escapes shido's Palace his friends just turn tail when they realize he's alive and beat him up I wouldn't say it upsets me personally cuz I guess I can see what the writers were trying to do after this particularly tense portion of the game they they just wanted to give again that moment of levity and humor I suppose but I just wish that this act of heroism and this moment of personal risk had been acknowledged in some way prior to him being beaten up whether it's everyone coming over and tackling him and hugging him and praising him and thanking him and then he says something stupid or out of left field and then maybe you know he gets a a a verbal lashing or something less visceral but still in the nature of the character in his relationship with these characters I don't know maybe they could have just said Thank you at the very end right just to thank you I know that this isn't a hot take as this is such a massive moment for him finally being able to use the skill set that had been unjustly taken away from him from a corrupt adult to save his friends and countless people in Japan from Shido I don't know it would have been great to give him the credit he was due showing that while yes he is a comedic relief character and we can acknowledge that the fact of the matter is that he is the one who saved the day here not Joker not Makoto not Futaba ryuji he was able to go against the terrible hand he had been dealt and he came out on top but that doesn't happen and the game just moves on having checked the obligatory gag off of their bingo card and this doesn't ruin ryuji's character by any means I think it's a shame that a lot of times when we talk about ryuji's impact on the story we talk about his blowup argument with Morana which a lot of people considered to be one of the low points in the game which while it's totally in character for him to do this and it is an interesting Arc to see him come to morgana's Aid I personally never really thought of this being anything outside of a dispute between friends friends fight it's an interesting Dynamic to illustrate in the game but the fact that this is one of his most key moments of involvement in the game for a prolonged period of time is kind of a shame now I will say that Royal does a lot to kind of fix my feelings of this because it does give every character their own small moments to shine as a nice way to tie up their individual stories not only allowing you to see their idealized lives but also seeing how much they respect and appreciate the struggles that have made them who they are with ryuji being the star of the track team with a fully healed leg in this idealized world though once he does snap out of this fake reality I really do appreciate that Atlas gives ryuji a terrific moment with him being the first to arrive on the scene in order to save Joker and AI from syreon comes I don't think so I just wish we'd gotten a little bit more but I think that I could say the same thing about a bunch of characters in Persona 5 Royal which if I had a complaint with the game as a whole I would say that it would be that I wish the character's development was much more closely tied with the actual primary Narrative of the game instead of having this character growth relegated to opt op Social Links and the arcs that they're introduced in so when I heard about the release of Persona 5 Strikers I was beyond excited about the prospect of ryuji finally getting his time in the Limelight and so as the game went on and on got to jail to flesh out her character and then yusuke and Haru got the same I was really ready to see ryuji finally finally get the recognition he deserves so that we can learn more about his past in earnest and how he has reached the place he's at now but if you've played Persona 5 Strikers you'll know that this never came once again he has some good moments he has some great moments but that's all they are they're they're moments with pretty much every other Phantom Thief having seemingly more importance to the story in one way or another than he does whether it be Makoto's relationship with zenii to the villains that kind of acted as foils to many of the Phantom thieves that we've already mentioned in an yusuke and Haru I just have to wonder was ryuji ever supposed to get anything here it makes me think about this article I was reading the other day on Screen Rant that was written by John tibits where he talks about how the game left a lot on the table by leaving ryuji as the designated comic relief character because in a game that had done such an incredible job at creating dark foils for an and yusuke through the jails that you progress through tibits makes the argument that Akira canoe would have been the perfect foil for Reus because they are both men who come from abusive and broken households so it would be really interesting to see and illustrate how differently these two characters reacted to and have coped with such difficult yet similar paths but despite the blatant similarities ryuji's pass never even gets a passing glance all of the pieces are there to bring our first Ally back to the Forefront in such a climactic moment in the story against one of the game's primary antagonists but the moment isn't capitalized on and we just keep moving forward and while I understand that story bloat is real and just because there's an opportunity to do something cool with a character doesn't mean it needs to happen and I'm sure Atlas has their reasons to keep ryuji safely tucked away as comedic relief I personally can't quite wrap my head around it other than he's just not very popular in Japan like he is in the west when you think of ryuji in Persona 5 Strikers what's the first thing that pops into your mind because if it has anything to do with him using profanity that's a pretty decent indicator that his character's development in this game did not reach the highs of many of his peers and that's kind of upsetting I'd be lying if I were to say that I wasn't feeling a bit of Persona 5 fatigue ever since I beat Strikers but with Persona 5 tactica I can feel myself being sucked right back into the world inhabited by these characters and while screenshots like this worry me that ryuji will solely remain a comedic relief character I have hope that he will receive the spotlight he so rightly deserves in this game from his social link to his acts of heroism in Shido and mari's palaces to the quieter moments of vulnerability like when he shares with Joker yusuke and Morana about how he believes himself to be a bad son for losing his track scholarship following the kashida incident there is just so so much to ryuji that hasn't been addressed in a meaningful way quite yet and I would love more than anything to see him get his moment to shine the games have shown us that while he can be quick to anger a bit too headstrong for his own good sometimes which ends up getting him into trouble and can find it difficult to look at things through another person's perspective they also show us that he's incredibly compassionate a loyal friend a hard worker and has a heart of gold if a comedic relief character like June from Persona 3 can be given a profound level of attention and Care placed onto him and his story without sacrificing the Integrity of his humor why can't ryuji I feel like I say this in every single one of these Persona videos but ryuji isn't a perfect character nor should he be perfect just isn't relatable and that's in my opinion one of the greatest strengths of the Persona games their ability to create relatable human characters and I hope sooner around rather than later that we get to see ryuji given the same care and attention he was given in his social link and in other places because let's be honest ryuji deserves better but that would do it for this week's video guys and I want to pass the question off to you would you like to hear a full psychology of ryuji and let me know if there are other characters in The Persona franchise that you just don't think get the respect that they deserve cuz I would love to hear your thoughts also if you want to hear more content like this make sure to check out my wife and I's new podcast thoughtcast a video game podcast where we get to talk with video game developers and content creators all about their experience in the gaming space and if you want to see anything we put out early or get additional updates and even exclusive content join our patreon because it really helps us to be able to continue making this kind of content for you moving forward but as always I hope you have a fantastic rest of your a fantastic rest of your week and why not even a fantastic rest of your month and I will see you in the next video [Music] later

Channel: ThoughtBubble

Views: 15,816

Keywords: persona 5, persona 5 ost, persona 5 review, persona 5 ps4, persona 5 royal, persona 5 royal review, persona 5 royal gameplay, gaming, phantom thieves, phantom theif, playstation, ps4, sega, rpg, jrpg, atlus, Reaction, React, Analysis, Phantom Thieves, thoughtbubble, Persona 5 Royal Reaction, Video Game Analysis, ペルソナ5, ペルソナ5 ザ ロイヤル, ryuji sakamoto, shin megami tensei, Persona 5 Tactica, Persona 5 Strikers, persona 5 royal switch, p5t, akira konoe, ryuji sakamoto analysis

Id: V4EiA4UpcRA

Length: 18min 45sec (1125 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 19 2023