The Truth About Yusuke Kitagawa (Character Analysis in Japanese Context)

so today we'll be taking a deep dive look into yusuke his character arc and how his background explores the east asian value of celia piety and the detriment it can pose if a person's guardian happens to be abusive hey guys i'm 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 [Music] [Music] 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 now you may wonder why this stuff is such a big deal to me personally and really it just boils down to how all this research helps me feel like i'm connecting to my own heritage as a person of japanese descent i'll also be graduating with a degree in social work very soon so all this sociological psychological and cultural stuff is just super interesting to me with that said let's briefly introduce our incredibly unique and talented artist yusuke kitagawa remember ruji's attempt at creating a phantom thieves logo well let's just say that the pt branding and calling cards after yusuke joins are of much higher quality gameplay-wise he serves as the quick and precise physical striker of the party who can also boost his teammates agility with masuku kaja i also find it pretty fitting that the katana he wields in the metaverse parallels his finesse for his real-life craft of art and since he's so one-track-minded when it comes to that it makes sense that his moveset is so focused compared to well-rounded teammates like makoto but speaking of use case passion for art that now brings us to his relationship with madoramay although they're not blood related their dynamic speaks to the most basic confucian relationship and that's the one between father and son or aka parent and child and unfortunately in yusuke and matarami's case their arc highlights filial piety when it's not practiced properly and in fact taken to abusive extremes [Music] like most of the characters in p5 yusuke's introduction doesn't paint him in a very flattering light he comes off as this unsavory stalker spurred by his tunnel vision when it comes to art so i don't think it's odd for ruji joker and us the players to be wary of the guy at first since we only just concluded an arc about sexual harassment towards on and women in general after all and even when the air is sorta cleared yusuke's early antagonism towards the guys is understandable since they immediately started throwing out accusations against his own father figure but in the end it is a huge relief to learn that he is a great guy with just an eccentric personality he's actually quite cordial and takes care to adhere to the expected social greetings in japan known as isatsu when speaking to those above his standing as for the sociocultural circumstances surrounding yusuke's early arc what really stands out to me is the fact that yusuke is the only pupil that matarame has left at the time it's unclear how all the other students left matarami's care as in we can't be sure whether they left because they were finally sick of the abuse or if matarame made the ultimate decision to kick them out either way the fact that yusuke has not only stayed at his teacher's side but also gets very defensive on matarami's behalf in light of rumored accusations only further portrays the relationship as distinctly father and son yusuke even says so himself that he viewed matarami as a father and artboy's confidant explores matarami's role as yusuke's parent but we'll talk more about those nuances later in the video we'll also discuss the very serious topic of stockholm syndrome later on now with all that said let's get to the heart of this issue and examine p5's commentary on unchecked filial piety now how could something that started thousands of miles away end up influencing the island nation of japan well even though the confucian teaching of filial piety had its origins in china it historically spread and influenced the entire asian continent to differing extents and which in japan's case arrived via the korean peninsula around the 6th century ce so the reason it became so popular was apparently when it focused on the material benefit that come from one's actions while that sounds kinda unsavory it definitely makes sense why this would happen and as this value continued to spread it made its way into the many folk tales and literature of traditional japanese society which only helped in solidifying its hold on the culture now what exactly does filial piety entail well in its most fundamental form it's understood as having deference towards and showing respect to one's parents this is expected because the nurturing and caring of children as they mature requires the sacrifice of the parents but unfortunately i think the general understanding of this virtue has a tendency to emphasize the younger generation's role in this as in proper respect to their parents elders and overall authority filial piety is one of the main things that bolsters the power of authority it was especially notable during the era of the shogunate where a system of social stratification emerged with the samurai on top with everyone else underneath them now i want to ask have you noticed how we're discussing much more history in this particular installment of this p5 social cultural series and some of the previous videos i did didn't even need to go into a historical deep dive so with this in mind i love the attention to detail that was put in when it comes to use case personas weapon and matarami's palace every other phantom thief's persona is based on some other cultural figure that doesn't hail from japan meanwhile yusuke is the only one who has a distinctly japanese persona and weapon aka the katana as for madorami's palace many parts of it feature traditional japanese art and shadow matarami's design is even based on what many shogun wore during the height of the tokugawa shogunate and i think you're starting to get the picture so unlike the other phantom thieves struggles that focus on relevant socio-cultural issues as they pertain to modern japan yusuke's arc highlights a philosophy that's basically as old as time in their culture shadow matarame literally says his pupils must offer up their ideas for the rest of their lives just as filial piety teaches children to respect and care for one's elderly parents for the rest of their lives but remember how we talked about the reciprocity of these relationships earlier filial piety isn't supposed to just end with the children's responsibilities parents are expected to provide nurture and sacrifice for their children and to add further to that another important tenet of confucian teachings is what you don't want done to yourself don't do to others it's pretty much the same thing as the golden rule in the west so the problem with filial piety arises when it's seen only as a material transaction and the parents feel entitled to their children's servitude but when parents raise their children with love and respect filial piety on the kids side is a way to show gratitude and appreciation for their parents this is the tragedy of madarame and his pupils relationships in his case matarame has failed them as their father since not only does he literally steal the hard work of his sons and daughters but he barely provides the daily necessities for them i mean just look at how bare yusuke's lodgings are while living with him but even so yusuke continues to vehemently defend madorami even though he never outright denies the abuse and so with that said we're now gonna take a brief look at the phenomena referred to as stockholm syndrome [Music] so earlier in this video i brought up the term stockholm syndrome it may not be recognized as a legitimate psychological disorder in the dsm-5 but the symptoms associated with it are very serious and definitely can develop from the fierce defensiveness towards anyone who would speak poorly about the abuser to the sympathy victims can have for them early p5 yusuke displays these kinds of behaviors in spades and nothing the pt try in the real world can seem to convince him otherwise it takes something as drastic as the stunning revelation about the sayuri aka usuke's favorite painting coupled with the completely out of this world experience of the metaverse to finally crack yusuke's unwavering support for madarame and since yusuke was only a three-year-old child when his mom died he's been practically raised by madorami his whole life so it's not surprising that the normalization of matarami's behavior took root over time or at least to the extent that he'd overlook his sensei's treatment of the other pupils and believe in any excuses madurame makes speaking of these other pupils it's definitely troublesome how madoramay finds these young people considering how on felt like she was being stalked for a few days prior to meeting yusuke and nakanohara must have his heart changed for stalking his ex so it's likely that these two learn such behavior is okay from madurami the supposed art master knows his pupils are talented but troubled meaning he must scope them out ahead of time before approaching and offering to be their mentor so thank goodness that at the end of the day yusuke understands that his father figure is in the wrong he could have perpetuated a cycle of abuse where the abused becomes the abuser had he continued to stay under matarami's tutelage it's just that yusuke employs denial as his biggest defense mechanism so the life he's so accustomed to doesn't come crashing down and that's understandable because any kind of change can be hard and or traumatic but yusuke ultimately decides to stand up for himself before shadow maraude he joins the phantom thieves to make sure his father figure can never ruin another talented artist's future ever again [Music] yusuke's confidant is honestly one of my favorites i just love how he slowly steps away from his tendency to view things as only black or white and instead begins adopting a new worldview that can recognize the grey in essentially all things this kind of thought process is actually referred to as dialectical thinking and can be basically summed up as finding a balance between opposites this image should be familiar to you right similarly the yin and yang symbol explores how opposite forces can actually be complementary to each other this taoist way of thinking has been very influential in all eastern cultures including japan's of course which is another reason why this confidant ties in so well with the whole eastern philosophy theme of yusuke's main arc so yusuke goes from believing the very one-sided idea that matarame can do no wrong to the complete opposite he does an entire 180 quite understandably in the aftermath of the second arc and comes to believe that nothing good can be associated with his former father this unfortunately affects the way he views the nature of humanity's desires as well as he now believes they can only lead to corruption so it's a huge shock to him when this idea now reflected in his newest art piece titled desire fails to resonate with anybody each subsequent confidante rank explores another side to yusuke's preconceived notion like love isn't only romantic but can be familial as well the cross isn't only a symbol of christ's suffering but hope from his sacrifice and with the help of on and ruji yusuke realizes that worldly desires aren't a hundred percent bad just because moderate abused art to make a fortune doesn't mean making money from your art is a bad thing in and of itself everyone needs to earn a living and pay the bills and this comes as a huge epiphany to yusuke so much so that he rushes off from leblanc to get started on his revision of desire in the end matarami was truly a deceptive artist but yusuke also recognizes that he was a kind teacher to him madarama is responsible for horrific things including letting yusuke's mom die but at the same time he essentially adopted yusuke which you know means a lot if you've seen the akechi video and it doesn't appear like yusuke was ever treated harshly this doesn't justify the material neglect at matarame shack of course especially since the man clearly had the finances to provide more nor does it justify stealing yusuke's work but artboy's memories of his former sensei aren't the only thing he has to come to terms with he must confront information he's never even heard before like when kawanabe shares how shocked he was when matarami took him in since the latter never liked kids and not only that but when matarami was panicked while yusuke ran a high fever if it was true that he solely kept yusuke around just to keep an eye on him and protect the sayuri secret then wouldn't it have been easier to just let his sickness progress and hey maybe he'd die from it just like what happened to his mom and though it's only speculation on sojiro's part as an adoptive parent himself he believes there's a part of matarame that truly did care for yusuke otherwise he wouldn't have looked after him after all this time all these opposing ideas force yusuke to reconsider his world view to realize that the world isn't all black or white but is really more just shades of grey like the concept of filial piety i'm personally blessed to have such a great dad who has looked after me despite all my severe chronic medical issues over the years that makes me want to show him my appreciation in return but clearly not everyone has that kind of relationship with their parents i know this video series tends to paint japan very negatively because of its focus on the sociocultural problems but it's not like other countries don't have their fair share of issues either and look no further than the pandemic response when it comes to duality many countries that are more culturally collectivist have had much more success keeping case counts and the death toll lower than that of the more individualistic countries but yeah to wrap this section up i just want to bring up that i'm not very familiar with how the fine arts industries work in japan i feel like i've heard somewhere that it's even harder to break out into these creative exploits without a mentor so if any of you guys have more information on that with sources included please it'd be awesome if you could comment down below [Music] on first glance i think it's easy to feel pretty horrified with the reality maruki created for yusuke especially when compared to what the other thieves got but on closer inspection it actually does a really good job continuing the theme of yusuke's confidant which is all about contradictions and duality on one hand yusuke is free from matarami's plagiarism but on the other he's lost the only father he's ever known yusuke is obviously nostalgic about much of his time with madurami despite everything that i'm sure he fits right in with haru in regards to losing her own father in a similar light yusuke's rank 10 ends with him turning down kawanabe's generous offer yet he can't help but comment that it seems like a waste there are pros and cons to everything and that includes yusuke's new life free from madurame the artist's goal is also different from the rest of the pts in that it's much more philosophical in nature much like his entire arc is he doesn't set a definite goal like becoming the number one artist out there nor does he settle on a certain style of art this doesn't mean he's aimless though cause he definitely has a clear idea of what he's aiming for and that's to make it as an artist without succumbing to matarami's cynical view of art in this sense yusuke's goal is essentially never ending which is why he is content on continuing to hone his craft where he is now finishing one painting at a time and that's a wrap on the art boy if you enjoyed please leave a like and or comment to help with the algorithm and also join the discord and follow me on my other socials i also want to thank all my patrons especially jared breland andreas hansen captain hobo and nt luck for all their support the final pull between haru and kasumi is up on the community tab right now so make sure you go vote for who gets a video next and thanks so much for watching guys and until next time take care see ya

Channel: LadyVirgilia

Views: 34,599

Keywords: Yusuke Kitagawa, yusuke kitagawa analysis, persona 5 royal, p5r, persona 5, yusuke character analysis, yusuke psychology, yusuke sociocultural context, yusuke kitagawa character study, persona 5 character analysis, yusuke persona 5 royal, persona 5 yusuke, persona 5 japanese context, persona 5 society, ladyvirgilia, persona 5 analysis, persona 5 royal analysis, yusuke kitagawa persona 5

Id: 07a4dFcTJWA

Length: 23min 9sec (1389 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 15 2021