The Truth About Makoto Niijima (Character Analysis in Japanese Context)

so today we'll be taking a deep dive look into makoto her role in the story and how her character highlights certain aspects that are unique to japanese society welcome guys i'm lady and i love doing analyses on the persona games so if that's your thing subscribe for more anyway if you're worried about p5r spoilers in this video don't be anything unique to royal will be delegated only to the final section which will be time stamped so with that said let's dive right in all right so first off it's important to note that persona 5's premise is unique in that it focuses distinctly on societal issues that are prevalent within japan sure there will always be some degree of understanding and relatability across cultures but it can't be overstated how different japanese cultural values are from those of the wider western world i guarantee that this series will add nuance to your understanding of makato and if it doesn't well i'll take the alphabet okay oh wait why do i care so much about these things you ask well i am of japanese descent myself so this research is like connecting to my own heritage and i'll also be graduating with a degree in social work soon so all this sociological psychological and cultural stuff is super interesting to me but anyway moving on let's briefly introduce makoto she's super reliable and a huge asset to the team both story-wise and gameplay-wise she makes great deductions and helps the team strategize for each heist and her well-rounded moveset and stat spread make her a great party member whether you're facing a mob or a boss not to mention that she's one of the most relevant characters to the main plot due to her relation to the main public prosecutor on the phantom thieves case she also has a badass awakening and a super sweet ride so no complaints there anyway i hope this video sheds some light on makoto's interesting position within japanese society when compared to the rest of the phantom thieves she's the perfect embodiment of the ideal japanese teen yet at the same time faces challenges that are unique to this island nation so let's face it makoto doesn't give off the greatest first impression especially from the phantom thieves perspective she's portrayed as this nosy and stuck-up goody two-shoes upon their first meeting basically following right along with principal kobayakawa's wishes in order to keep her future college recommendations untarnished it's understandable if the player is a bit irked at her passive aggressive accusations during their initial meeting she pushes all of the phantom thieves buttons especially ons when she indirectly refers to shiho's suicide attempt on a side note we can see right from the get-go that she's highly observant and intelligent she approaches them directly and rather threateningly brings up the interesting conveniences that she's noticed while she remains a pesky fly to the pts for a while we as the players slowly see her personal struggles unravel before us most notable of these are her feelings of uselessness especially in regards to her older sister syed there are two main sides to this so let's address the indirect one first and that's her attempt to meet the high expectations of shujin's faculty the daunting stress comes as a result of knowing that her university prospects rely on completing this investigation for the principal and the stress is only compounded by the second direct side to this and that's living up to sye's expectations of her we see how strained the nijima sister's relationship is in the lead-up to kaneshiro's palace most notably by a saya's harsh criticism of her sister at dinner one night we see just how guilty makato feels for being a burden to her sister as the latter has been the one to provide for her needs while she remains a minor and so the only way makoto feels like she can show her gratitude and make it up to say it is to follow through with the ideal japanese expectation which is to study hard get into a good university and ultimately enter a respectable career this helps explain why she tries so hard to get to the bottom of this phantom thieves business she even resorts to the infamous joker stalking to varying degrees of success depending on who you ask but on a serious note makoto clearly has no support system to confide in she has no real friends at school and spends her time tiptoeing on eggshells at home the small chat with the catchy only adds to her frustration and feelings of uselessness all of this pressure that's building up from all sides eventually reaches a boiling point and spills over as the very rash decision to meet with kaneshiro but before we can get further into that we need to take a look at what it is about japanese sociocultural values that play into makoto's background and personal struggles in p5 [Music] so unlike joker on or ryuji makoto doesn't appear to face any kind of social stigma when viewing her from the surface in fact her status at school would be considered perfect among japanese society you see her role as student council president which is one of the most respectable leadership positions at school and her stellar academic success makes her the ideal japanese student this view is taken even further due to japan's and wider asia's collectivist culture collectivist values place emphasis on group cohesion over the self while the individualistic values of the west favor the freedom of the individual over the collective this means that fitting in with the natural societal order is extra important in collectivist japan now i'm pretty sure that most of you have heard that japan like other east asian cultures places strong emphasis on academic success this lies in exact contrast to the anti-school slash anti-studying sentiment that seems to dominate so much of adolescent culture in the u.s and other western nations in fact various studies have shown that japanese students have high motivation to succeed in school so how and why is this the case well i'm glad you asked because it's time to get into some research and figures so in one of these studies japanese students expressed how their friendships tended to foster a mutual sense of competition when it came to academics friend groups would end up motivating each other to study harder since no one wants to lose to their friends the fact that scores are posted publicly for the whole school to see only adds to this the resulting atmosphere is very different from that in the united states and other parts of the western world which tends to look down upon students who excel in the classroom now let's move on to gakushu jugu or aka kram schools these private institutions cost tuition fees to attend and are widely prevalent throughout japan though more so in the cities and suburbs than in rural areas these cram schools have particular relevance to makoto's background in p5 since about 57 of tokyo elementary school students attend a juku of some kind can you believe that literally over a majority of elementary age students attend this progresses to 78 percent of middle school juku students moving on to high school and by the way high school is non-compulsory in japan and requires passing a school-specific entrance exam to get into and finally 79.8 percent of high school juku students end up at a university you probably can pick up on where i'm heading with this because the kram school culture is so widespread in japan it ends up playing an important role in the socialization of adolescents to the point where many kids want to attend jakku to make new friends and or because their existing friends are already going in this sense we can see how makoto is actually an outcast since she has no real friends at shujin despite this fact that friendships revolve mostly around academics for japanese adolescents it's not just cram schools that dominate japanese society either there are also institutions called yobiko that focus specifically on entrance exam preparation skills the curriculum includes many mock or practice exams so students can gauge if they can pass the real one or not in fact the place where makato and akechi chat in june is probably at one of these mock exams held by a yopiko examinations of various kinds have always been valued traditionally in east asian society so exam season is a really big deal you could basically compare it culturally in the west to football or any other major sport and the day of the big game you see in japan juko instructors and school teachers commonly accompany their students right to the exam room door where they give last minute advice and pep talks just like what a coach does for his or her athletes just in general i can personally attest to this exam culture since i grew up in a city with a large asian population i distinctly remember attending s.a.t prep school with my friends on saturdays during high school and i know it definitely doesn't sound fun but the fact that we could hang out during the various breaks and complain about it together over the many months brought us closer together as friends just like any other extracurricular tends to do now there's just one more culturally relevant point i want to address and that's regarding shinro shiro this basically translates to placement counseling which gives teachers and school faculty a more important role in directing a student's future then is otherwise the norm in the united states you know how the decision of which schools to apply to generally lies with the student here right well in japan the faculty is much more involved in guiding or counseling students toward their future career whether that means recommending specific students to specific jobs right out of high school or selecting them as one of the names submitted to a certain university this added weight to the faculty's role is seen and how the principal keeps bringing up college recommendations to makoto unsurprisingly shinro shiro adds to the overall competition among japanese students who all try to be noticed over their peers by the teachers of course this also translates into school faculty members holding a lot of power and leverage over their students with all of this in mind it shouldn't be too surprising why ruji and ahn are so annoyed with makoto the top scorer and perfect student council president these two on the other hand don't fit in at shujin since they're not the greatest students and this is on top of the other issues they got going on but such discussion will have to wait for their respective video in any case juji and on soon find out that they actually are missing the full picture regarding makoto this is the part where we get to discuss makoto's character arc her personal discovery of what makes her who she is and her growth into becoming a confident young adult with a set goal in mind we'll be unpacking her role in the main story and her confidant in this part where i'll be focusing on two topics in particular one is her sentimental nature and two is her desire to serve others her quick thinking and resourcefulness will be peppered throughout as just icing on the cake so although she seems self-serving on first glance we quickly see that she actually has a lot of empathy and compassion for others her desire to be helpful to her sister and her genuine concern for the safety of the shujin students who were being scammed is what drives the main plot forward in june and july the investigation for the principal is no longer only about getting to the bottom of the phantom thieves for her college apps but to actually prevent students from falling into financial ruin so now we arrive at makoto's desperate and rash decision a cornered teen with no support system is obviously going to make poor choices even someone who is as level-headed as she is there's a compounded factor in that teens use the amygdala to process information aka the emotional part of the brain while developed adults use the prefrontal cortex aka the rational part she's made up her mind and is gonna be helpful damn it so it was only a matter of time before she resorted to these truly desperate measures the pt wind up threatened with a serious deadline looming over them but they also now have a means of actually entering kaneshiro's palace and an amazing new ally to boot the prim and proper honor student is done playing nice and we see that makoto actually has quite the temper when she lets loose and at last the pt have an actual strategist or the real brains on the team now of course we see that the investigation doesn't go the way the principal had hoped it would marking the beginning of makoto's belief in the pt's justice and her stance against the principal and her own sister's view of the phantom thieves so now makato's confidant opens up where i'll now make the argument that despite popular belief we do learn a lot about makoto even though many ranks have shared screen time with ekko one major thing that is consistently reinforced is makoto's desire to serve the student body to serve her constituents or basically those who she's responsible for this is given focus via her concern for her new friend ekko which brings us to another important often hidden aspect of her character and that's her sentimental nature we first see a hint of it when aiko notices her beat up buchi marukun pencil case the mascot character is apparently so old that they no longer sell merchandise of it the real highlight of makoto's sentimentality however is her fondness for her late father his career as a cop basically inspired her sense of justice but before really reflecting on the topic of her dad she wasn't sure why she was pursuing her studies she was just following along with the expectations of society including those of her high achieving sister but we see how her practical and resourceful nature stem from her police officer dad and this is coming off of a convo about moisturizing hand cream of all things like father like daughter so they say recalling her childhood dream of following in her late dad's footsteps guides the way she reflects on her future from that moment forward her sharp intuition and gut feeling over aiko's shady boyfriend is actually a great fit for someone of the priestess arcana but that's for a future video makoto's senses have her dad to think since she learned about the common going ons of the red light district from him we must also acknowledge the lengths she goes to in order to protect her friend this dire situation is where her pesky nosiness actually shines not everyone is going to keep pressing into their friend's business even when there are signs of danger after all her actions also serve as a great stand-in for her rekindle desire to fight for the justice of others and in the end this entire fiasco helps makoto discover a personal reason to focus on her studies she'll need to in any case in order to make her way up to police commissioner it definitely won't be easy though in such a male-dominated career makoto will surely encounter struggles that are similar to what her sister syed has faced all throughout the game so far which brings us to the next big part that'll focus on the nijima sisters relationship and the current trend in the japanese workforce makoto will be facing a steep uphill battle as she pursues her goal of becoming police commissioner first of all police work is a heavily male-dominated field and while that's essentially true of most countries like how women make up just 12.6 percent of all police officers in the u.s japan has one of the lowest rates of female officers at just nine percent of the force japan is also a more traditional society and greatly favors male leadership in the workplace when compared to the united states or france where women make up 43.8 and 33 of executive positions respectively just 12.9 of japanese women hold a senior level position at work this is both caused by and is the cause of a variety of unique sociocultural issues one related japanese practice may help explain just how much value is placed on men in leadership positions the practice i'm referring to is called mukuyoshi those of you who have seen my akachi video may remember this but basically moko yoshi is when a family business legally adopts an adult male between the age of 20 and 30 usually the husband of a daughter so that the family business may continue its line of male successors over multiple and multiple generations so though it will continue to be difficult for the nijima sisters it's also heartwarming to see both of them rekindle their goals of pursuing justice a thing that stems from their late father we'll talk more about this in the final part of this video so now let's return to unpacking the final months of the game by taking a look at the science palace arc this is where makoto's belief in the pt's justice is truly put to the test all her unresolved insecurities are brought to the forefront here as well and the most notable of these is being of use slash helping out her older sis as the thieves progress through the casino palace makato learns just how jaded syed has become compounding onto those heavy revelations is the return of those familiar feelings of uselessness from earlier in the game makato has been the main brains of the pt's heists for the past three palaces yet akatchi's aptitude completely overshadows hers in science casino since june we have seen a sort of rivalry between akechi and makoto starting with the detective's underhanded diss to the entire fiasco during the main panel at the school festival not to mention the fact that akachi works with sye on some cases akechi and makoto honestly just have many of the same streams however all of this latent strife allows makato's empathy to shine through in the end she admits that she was jealous of her sister's trust in him and how easily he carried them through saya's palace but even so she ultimately doesn't resent him for it as for the relationship with her sister we see how it begins to mend after syed basically joins them we learned from rank 7 of makoto's confidante that their father's legacy was what originally inspired syed to pursue law with the seventh palace behind them the sentimental side of makoto is surely happy that her sister has regained that same passion to pursue justice that their father instilled in them honestly she must be proud since psy is the only palace ruler who didn't need her treasure stolen the older nijima had it within herself to change on her own sure the pt's entire plan and a drugged joker was a big part of that success but ultimately it was still sye who made her own decision to trust joker's testimony and even form a confidant with him and so with that covered this final part of the video is where i must warn you that spoilers for persona 5 royal are ahead i repeat spoilers for royal are ahead you've been warned so we finally arrived at maruti's reality where we truly see how much makoto loved her dad despite his long work hours back when he was still alive but here he is now alive and breathing and able to spend time with his daughters but makoto has also learned the lesson of needing to face reality head-on and grasp one's future with his or her own hands it's the struggle against yaldabaoth that taught them this that no one is going to create their future for them and so we see just how confident makato has become in her own shoes even though it must be agonizing to say goodbye to her father once more the final months of the game are genuinely heartwarming for the nijima sisters makoto steals herself for her university studies while saya revives her pursuit of justice by becoming a defense attorney most importantly though the sisters once strained relationship is shown to be much better when they're seen bursting into laughter in royals credit scenes they'll surely support each other as they encounter the uphill battle in their respective careers and thanks so much for coming to my ted talk on queen leaving a like will really help me out if you like this and tell me your favorite scene or thing involving makato i have a lot more p5r sociocultural videos planned for the other party members so subscribe for more if that's your thing and thanks so much again for watching but until next time guys take care see [Music] ya

Channel: LadyVirgilia

Views: 51,325

Keywords: Makoto Niijima, Makoto analysis, persona 5 royal, p5r, persona 5, Makoto character analysis, makoto psychology, makoto sociocultural context, makoto niijima character study, persona 5 character analysis, makoto, makoto persona 5 royal, persona 5 makoto, sae niijima, persona 5 japanese context, persona 5 society, ladyvirgilia, persona 5 analysis, persona 5 royal analysis

Id: 0IwMLdz0l4Q

Length: 28min 10sec (1690 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 08 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

One thing she misses is the feminist element to Makoto. The west keeps mistaking Queen as "femdom" when its more Mulan and Joan of Arc. (Well, it could easily be both.)

Makoto's hobbies are associated with men, and taboo for women (Aikido, shounen, yakuza/action movies, motorcycles.) Japanese women are expected to be feminine and demure all the time. So as Queen, she cross-dresses as an 80's style shounen edgelord, clothed and armed in all her hobbies, shouting cheesy shounen lines. She's being a total weeb.

Her Personas are rebellious women who "stole" positions of power meant for men. Johanna becomes the Pope. Anat steals Aqhat's bow and arrow after he told her that stuff is for men. This ties into Sae's discrimination in the workplace , the human trafficking their father faught (I've seen those trafficked women with my own eyes) and protecting Eiko from prostitution.

[u/OoguroRyuuya5]

If anyone were to question as to as how and why Makoto fits within the Thieves or says that she’s “generic” then one look at this video and it will give deeper culture context to her character archetype beyond surface level.