The Truth About Ryuji Sakamoto (Character Analysis in Japanese Context)

so today we'll be taking a deep dive look into ruji his role in the story and how his background highlights the yankee youth subculture and the domestic abuse issues that arise from japan's dangerous tolerance yet poor understanding of alcoholism hey guys i am lady and i love doing analyses on the persona games so if that's your thing you've come to the right place 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 let's take note of persona 5's unique premise in that it distinctly focuses on societal issues that are prevalent in 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 or eurocentric world for example japan and wider asia's 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 sticking to the natural societal order of things is extra important in collectivist japan if you want to know more about why it's so important to grasp these cultural differences when it comes to p5 check out the video in the cards above so why do i care so much about these things you ask well i am of japanese descent 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 with that said though let's briefly introduce joker's best pal rugi he may be brash easily angered and could definitely learn to think before he speaks but at the end of the day his intentions all come from a good place seeing how he possesses a strong sense of justice and a real heart for those who've been wronged by others he also essentially introduces us to made more free time i mean kawakami so that's a plus gameplay wise he's our tankiest party member who still happens to serve up some mean physical damage but most notably ruji's background and confidant indirectly highlights the issue of nomu communication which refers to working societies networking over drinks and the failure to help those who end up struggling with addiction ruji's choice to adopt the image of the yankee or bancho even in the aftermath of kamoshira is actually quite ironic which is a point we'll discuss later like on ruji definitely makes a strong first impression and that's in large part due to the color of his hair if you've watched a lot of anime you're probably used to identifying the delinquent kid based on his or her blonde hair which is all based on the real-life tendency of yankee to dye their hair red blonde or other bright colors so right within the first few hours of the game we can already see inklings of the brash nature we'll come to know him for when the bewildered joker and ruji are trapped in kamashita's dungeon ruji rushes at one of the armed guards to try and clear an escape path for both of them we also see his big heart for others on display here since he tells joker to run for it after he goes down even when their lives are still in danger after barely scraping by that mess ruji still shows concern for some other people imprisoned in the castle actually he ends up wanting to venture back there and this is before he awakens to his own persona by the way just to break those poor abused prisoners out of their cells overall i think it's fair to say that ruji's rashness and protective nature to the point where he's willing to sacrifice his own life for the sake of others are two of his most notable traits both of which we'll discuss in further detail later but of course we can't not talk about his pretty short views since when that's coupled with his tendency to make rash decisions it results in instances like what went down with kamashita this incident unknowingly set the stage for ruji to become joker's first genuine contact with someone at shujin though ruji the loner delinquent who teachers and students alike whisper to stay away from i place emphasis on this initial loner status since it turns out to be ironic and completely unbefitting of someone as easy to get along with as ruji is and so with this knowledge we see that ruji isn't so much a delinquent as in a youth who purposefully gets into trouble as he is more just an unfortunate social outcast due to his one-off mistake he's actually a great guy and we owe it to this founding member of the phantom thieves to gain an understanding of the societal issue he was shamed for while all cultures have problems with heavy drinking to some extent i think japanese working society in particular boasts this troublesome tendency of heavy alcohol consumption this plays a large role in regis experience growing up in a domestically abusive household we learn in rank 2 of his confidant that his dad was an alcoholic who used to beat his family and that ruji and his now single mom have been on their own for a while now so knowing what happens to ruji and the track team after kamoshida we can see how his dad's problem with alcohol has had this huge ripple effect on so many people it's unclear if kamoshida mentioned ruji's dad's problem though i'm not surprised at ruji's internalized stigma regarding his troubled household resulting in him taking kamashita's bait and lashing out in general it's well documented that adolescents who grow up in domestically abusive households oftentimes struggle with anger issues and expressing difficult emotions in healthy ways i have no doubt that ruji's reaction is indirectly due to his alcoholic father since ruji would have been aware of how others would view people like his dad and the family you see in general japanese society doesn't see alcoholism for the disease that it is that anyone can develop a physical dependency on drinking instead they view it as a matter of character and that anyone who has problems with it must be weak willed or slovenly because of this societal stigma people who struggle with alcoholism refuse to seek professional treatment or help for their condition but why are you making this such a huge deal lady it's not like anyone forced ruji's dad to drink right well i wouldn't be too sure about that because there's a huge social pressure to drink in japan ranging from important life events to everyday get-togethers with co-workers for example a baby's first visit to the shrine will be marked by the parents ceremonial drinking of alcohol while on the other hand there's a literal term coined for networking over drinks and that's normal communication this combines the japanese term nomu which means to drink with the english word communication it's easy to find businesses that offer two hour all you can drink sessions and various types of alcoholic drinks are legit available to purchase from vending machines so as you can see japan as a society encourages heavy drinking yet looks down on anyone who becomes an addict unfortunately it can be very difficult to regain one's reputation after recovery even if they do seek help the video that i did on makatol dives further into how a single person's reputation can tarnish the entire family in collectivist japan because of this risk japanese people are very adamant about keeping any mental health problem to themselves i know this for a fact due to my mother's side of the family all of whom live in japan one of my aunts took her own life after suffering from under-treated depression for many years and my uncle was the one who found her body in the closet so tragically the average japanese person is not very educated on mental health topics and the overall stigma towards those with mental illness is quite high i'll dive more into the mental health topic when i get to kosumi's video so first let's get back to ruiji the very fact that ruji's dad failed to receive treatment led to the domestic abuse in the household that later led to ruji losing everything when it comes to track including the friendships he had with his trackmates after he attacked kamoshida and the team was disbanded it looks like the teen took his new reputation to heart dyed his hair and began acting like a delinquent or aka a yankee as the most prominent of these subcultures is known as even japan with all its emphasis on social conformity has its own countercultures of course so strap in and sit tight because we're about to embark on a little journey through the various delinquent types that have emerged over the many decades so first off i'm sure the majority of you japanese media connoisseurs have come across one if not both of the two most notorious types of delinquent youth one being the yankee and the other the fu though they both wear their respective moniker proudly the funny thing is that neither group is responsible for coining their own term back in the 1970s a number of huge riots broke out between the police and literally hundreds of these gangs so to quickly get their stories out the media referred to the teen motorcycle gangs as well sizzle who which literally translates to running out of control violent tribe and the rest of the troublemakers as yankee it's just funny to me that these groups that actively shy away from social norms quickly adopted the terms that society made for them but anyway these gangs owe their origins to the funeral of the late 40s and 50s in post-world war ii era japan solution became synonymous with petty crime these early delinquents would go on to set the standard for all their brethren that popped up in later decades and what was most notable about them in my opinion was how they adopted a particularly unique and flashy fashion sense now fast forwarding a number of decades the yankee developed their own sense of flashy style and often dyed their hair blonde or red their style was heavily influenced by the america muda translated as american village fashion shops in osaka though it's not entirely clear why exactly the term yankee was settled on you've probably noticed that it's just the way yankee is pronounced in japan we can see that the bulsal and yankee adopted a similar fashion sense as is depicted in some of these photos the bright colored hair in particular is viewed negatively in japan as the common saying goes the nail that sticks out gets hammered down remember how we discussed in the on video that some schools require kids to dye their hair black if that's not their natural color already so seeing how shujin handled drew g's full incident with kamoshira it's no wonder the teen is pissed off at how this corrupt teacher is still afforded such a lauded position he's unable to do anything about it though and understandably feels powerless to fight against what's essentially the social obligation to respect authority but i want to point out how this interesting irony comes into play when ruji adopts this delinquent image for one yankee gangs in general actually place huge emphasis on hierarchy within the group the younger yankee members are expected to address their senpai in kegel or japanese formal speak at all times for example and so though the yankee shunned the conformity of japanese society as a whole they've ended up forming their own strict codes that all members must adhere to these delinquent gangs are known to start forming their tight-knit communities in middle school which are then maintained into adulthood such a thing is actually common in gangs across the world really but anyway what i want to bring attention to is how it's actually pretty ironic that ruji looks like a yankee based on his physical appearance but is actually a complete loner at school tight-knit roots as a concept is something that really defines rugi's role in the story though what with the sheer lengths he goes to to help his former trackmates and his utmost dedication to the pt as well we'll get more into that in the next section so to finally wrap up this topic about japanese youth subcultures we need to bring up the bancho or aka the badasses of all delinquents popular examples of bonchol in anime are the main characters in jojo's such as jotaro with his open gakuran and josuke with his pompadour while these two particular examples keep their natural hair color it's the overall image they portray that's important in real life bunchel were the badass top dogs who cemented their positions via fights against other bunchel and were the leaders of their respective delinquent groups as far as ruji's demeanor goes i like to think he was projecting some sort of bonchol or tough image in order to feel like he has some sense of control and power over his circumstances in the aftermath of his inflicted injury and loss of the track team especially considering just how massive of a fall from grace he had from being the actual star of the track team to losing everything on one more added note the typical bonjour in real life enjoys chasing after notoriety and in a similar light luigi is the most focused on the pt's popularity out of any of the main cast part of his arc is learning the hard way that notoriety isn't the aspect of yankee he truly wants to adopt in the end it more has to do with the spirit of all these counter-cultures in the sense that they're not afraid to stand up to society and to live their lives proudly as they themselves dictate and speaking of ruji's character group let's now move on to his confidante not gonna lie i have a soft spot for characters that have more obvious flaws does ruji tend to rush into things without thinking yeah does he let success get to his head sometimes uh yeah did he mention he was a phantom thief hell yeah he did but really when we get right down to it roojie's just a true pal who's always loyal to those he cares about like for real so you know how we just talked about bonchol and how they're basically the leaders of their delinquent crews right well ruji's confidant highlights how he's a true leader that's looking out for his crew's best interest even when he's no longer a part of it and has in fact been completely shunned by the other members i mean sure it was his mistake that cost everyone the team in the first place but he never shies away from taking responsibility for it at various points throughout the confidant we see just how much ruji regrets that one mistake and how much trouble he's caused everyone but once he hears word of the suspicious circumstances surrounding the team's return he takes the opportunity to right his wrong though he sure wasn't obligated to because let's face it he was also thrown under the bus since all those guys stopped talking to him ruchi also could have ran the complete opposite way fearing that he'd screw something else up for his former pals but he does what a true bro would and doesn't hesitate to do what he can for them even going so far as risking what little he still had left at shujin if yamaluchi managed to catch wind of him snooping around in the end ruji is able to present the evidence to the guys without losing his cool and even offers himself up as a punching bag letting them take all their frustrations about the track fiasco out on him we can't forget that this good ending wouldn't have been possible without joker's help though and in this sense ruji's arc embodies the ideal or the spirit of the yankee and bancho that's featured in so much japanese media and that's how the delinquent always finds his real friend his true partner in crime they'll stick by him no matter how much he screws up or how hard the going gets speaking of screwing up though there's a number of iffy moments involving ruji depending on who you ask like i know that some people were really irked with his difficulty to properly apologize to mona in the fifth palace arc in general though i think there's one scene that most of us will share it an opinion on and that's when all the girls pummeled him right after he just saved all their lives i understand that he's written as the butt monkey since he's not the brightest guy around but i don't know it's kinda tone deaf to me considering rugey's background of domestic abuse and on top of that having sustained a major injury due to kamushita's physical abuse but i'd like to know what you guys think of these scenes and if you have any possible ways to improve them but with all that covered i must warn you now that spoilers for persona 5 royal are ahead i repeat spoilers for royal are ahead you've been warned [Music] monaki's reality just reinforces how much running the means to ruji i mean he says he gets down when he's not running and that makes so much sense looking back at his confidant even though it hurts and is harder after the injury and even though he can't run as well as he used to he always drags joker out to get their run-in i guess some things just never change with ruji and that includes when we see him just charge in and straight up take saundrion's attack like the true tank he is gameplay-wise as for the dream reality rugi gets it appears like he's letting his star track status get to his head on first glance but i think that aspect of him is really relatable deep down i mean can you honestly say you don't want recognition for what you do what athlete or artist or insert any other thing someone could do wouldn't want some type of acknowledgement for their hard work but when we get to the heart of it we see that ruji just wanted to make a single mom's life easier by shooting for an athletic scholarship i like how maruki's reality brought really important questions to the forefront like what exactly do you envision for your own future and viewing his confidant in hindsight i don't think ruji truly questioned what he wanted to do like the rest of the pt had you know like haru and the coffee shop and makoto and becoming a police commissioner he was just so busy trying to fix up the aftermath of his past actions that it wasn't really about looking forward to the future for him and in rank 10 he makes sticking with the phantom thieves his number one motivation but the pt's duties are officially over now that the metaverse is gone which means ruji at last has to decide what he wants to pursue for himself going forward and this ties into how much running means to him even if the physical therapy will be tough he's ready to put in the work and recover what strength he can in his knee and make his return to actively training with the team again which is especially feasible now that they've all made up and that's a wrap on ruji i want to thank all my patrons especially jared brolin andreas hansen captain hobo phillipse and nt luck for all their support and as always leaving a like and or comment will really help this video out so i'd really appreciate you do so i still have other p5r sociocultural videos coming for the other party members so remember to subscribe and vote in the polls on my community tab for which girl is up next thanks for watching guys and until next time take care see ya

Channel: LadyVirgilia

Views: 63,708

Keywords: Ryuji Sakamoto, ryuji sakamoto analysis, persona 5 royal, p5r, persona 5, ryuji character analysis, ryuji psychology, ryuji sociocultural context, ryuji sakamoto character study, persona 5 character analysis, ryuji persona 5 royal, persona 5 ryuji, persona 5 japanese context, persona 5 society, ladyvirgilia, persona 5 analysis, persona 5 royal analysis, ryuji sakamoto persona 5

Id: kQeHMXtl0L4

Length: 26min 10sec (1570 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 06 2020