The Truth About Kanji Tatsumi (Gender Norms, Queer-ness in Japanese Context // Persona 4 Analysis)

I'm sure I'll be labeled by saying this, but I'm old and don't care. I find is disheartening that people these days feel the need to be publicly praised for whatever "non-standard" identities they might have, rather than being happy to just be accepted. I've known people of various orientations and minority groups throughout my life, and the one thing none of them ever wanted was to be singled out (either good OR bad), they simply wanted to be treated like everyone else.

So, while you might see Atlus "perpetuating stereotypes", and consider that a bad thing, they're also pointing out specific behaviors and making people think about them. The current trend of trying to do the opposite is just as unhealthy, as it sets up a bias that suggests this behavior is preferred, rather than just accepted. In Persona 4, it seems to me that Youske is the only one who really has a problem with Kanji's sexuality. I interpreted it as him being raised to fear them much like people in the west did when I was young, and coming to terms with that is part of his character growth. I've been told that, in Japan, the typical reaction to finding out someone is gay is mild surprise, and then they move on; rather than the shock and either anger/revulsion or overly-dramatic-joy we feel the need to express here in America.

OTOH, Kanji's own reactions seem spot-on to me. He's still a kid, and coming to terms with his own feelings. Couple that with his defensive reactions to reject anything society labels as "not masculine", and it's pretty easy to see why his shadow was overtly gay, and why he got so embarrassed and flustered at the idea of being attracted to Naoto. This is NOT abnormal! This is 100% what most people feel, and as they're feeling it, they have to come to terms with it. Some will accept that they might be gay, others will reject it. It sometimes takes decades to really figure out who you are, and that's not a bad thing, no matter what the media tries to say today. Just like nobody should pick on you for being gay, nobody should try to pressure you into it either. In a perfect world, you have a friend like Yu, whom you can talk to about it, and who will accept you no matter what you decide.

I think it was Hogwart's Legacy that had a very good "representation" of a trans person, in the form of a bartender who says, at one point, that she is trans, and that's it. No other special treatment, not "Oh my! You are so amazing and brave and special!", just a simple acknowledgement and then they are a normal person in every other respect. Because that's how things are supposed to work in the real world. You don't go to a bar to chat with a trans bartender, you go there to chat with a bartender. You don't have gay coworkers, you have coworkers. If you get romantically involved with someone, THEN orientation matters, but not until then.

Kanji is an Otomen (otome man), guys who like girly things, like cute stuff, and femine interest.

Oh boy this is gonna be a doozy. Well I'm just gonna vent my thoughts on the BIG thing before this video officially starts. To me, Kanji is not gay/bi. If I had to guess he was questioning himself about his sexuality prior to his dungeon but after accepting his shadow, he still denies that so I'm willing to take Kanji's word on it. But honestly this is part of what I love about Kanji. This isn't like Naoto or Chihiro from Danganronpa where the game activity says neither of them are trans yet fans deny it. But the fact that so many years after Persona 4 came out, people are still having this debate and the game does such a good job keeping it it ambiguous is amazing to me. There are so many ways to look at Kanji's character, all equally valid and that's part of why I love this amazing character in a cast that I normally feel pales in comparison to the rest of the series

😢I'm happy to see a video,without all that "LGTV" stuff, Kanji is an example of "don't judge a book by its cover", since he was little, he was taught by his family about cloth, clothes, knitting, sewing, etc...but that didn't fit with his appearance, over time, the jokes became insinuations not about hes hobby, or family work, but about such a masculine boy, liking these cute things and sewing, being some kind of pervert, or even gay, you know the usual phrase "Kimochi warui". I'm sad to see that some P4 fans project their vision and ideology onto the character, he doesn't feel attracted to boys, nor is he interested in any character other than Naoto, who used as a disguise what Kanji and his family knew best: Clothes. Eyes can be deceived, but not his tailor's heart, That's why he didn't know why only Naoto, a "Boy" spark his interest. His shadow was the fear of everyone's projection of his tastes: Are you so masculine and like cute things? Maybe you'r gay. And like every young man, he didn't know what to think. But he knew that the most important thing was to protect his mother, to be the man of the house. So he adopted this delinquent attitude, so people would stop judging what he liked, hiding his vocation as a tailor, hell he's so good at sewing he could be a fashion designer.
but the fanbase prefers to fight about how he represents the "LGTV" movement, not seeing that they are behaving like the people who gossiped and spread rumors behind Kanji's back, which forced him to shut down, but at the end of the game, he is being Honestly with myself, I hope one day to see a female character from the Persona universe wearing an outfit made by Kanji. It would be amazing

Honestly I hope they don't censor Persona 3 Reload. They said that it was supposed to be a faithful remake I hope they don't scale back on Operation Babe Hunt at all, If they do then I'm gonna be so pissed.

Well, since you asked, here's a little something about this gay man. In 2009, I was already 22 years old and in my fourth year of university. It was in college, away from my hometown that I was finally able to explore gay men in media. There weren't any I could find outside of the classic Rocky Horror Picture Show and the yaoi manga I started buying from Amazon. But then, there was P4, the original PS2 release. Kanji was the first gay, or at least bi, character I ever saw in a video game. I was excited during his monologue, and when the battle started, I remember thinking finally, someone else said the unspoke parts out loud. There has been much debate over Kanji since then. But for me, he was the first gay (or at least bi) character I saw somewhere other than a yaoi manga. I remember the parallels between his character and me when I was in highschool. I also took home ec and wasn't interested in traditionally masculine high school activities. I got picked a lot for it and was ultimately forced to defend myself with violence. Kanji was essentially me in a video game.

With both kanji and naoto, I always got the impression that the writing team had an impression of the queer people they were trying to portray, but didn't know those people or their struggles very well and things got a little confused in the process. Kanji got a better end of the deal in my opinion, but then again I'm pretty solidly on the side of Naoto's narrative paralleling the transmasculine experiences so their side of things is a lot more complicated for me.

I knew Persona 4 existed during my high school years. I was heavily encouraged to play specifically it, but getting my hands on a copy was stupidly difficult. I managed to find and play P3F (which is still my favorite Persona game to this day), but I regrettably didn't get a chance to play P4 until well into my adulthood.

Can I give you a big shout-out for being so willing to discuss the harms of colonialist Christianity, knowing your personal faith? Colonialism just ruins everything. But you've done a great job covering as much nuance as possible and it's clear that you have a lot of love for all of these topics.

I think people occasionally focus too hard on putting a label on things that don't always fit exact labels...as an ace person I once described a crush on a girl as not being "attracted to girls in general...but I'm not attracted to boys in general". It's complicated for me because I'm not aromantic, but I've never fully been able to understand what a partner's body has to do with anything. It's intersecting for me to see a case like Kanji's, where it's pretty clear he fell for Naoto, not "boys". Even if Naoto had been a man (or a trans man) it wouldn't be an obligation for Kanji to identify as gay or bi. You can be 99% straight but with an exception, or you can decide to be in a romantic relationship with someone you're not sexually attracted to. (Not that there's anything wrong with calling yourself bi if you have one exception!)

I just generally see some of these discourses as a little too....well, binary.

My interpretation of Kanji is that he is, at the start, uncertain of his sexuality due to constant accusations because of his typically feminine hobbies, however due to Kanji's fears of rejection instead of figuring out the answer to his uncertainty he blindly chooses the one he wants to be true (ironically that is the correct answer but he doesn't truly know that until he lets himself actually contemplate it) this denial of self-reflection is what leads to Kanji's aggressive "masculinity" as he's trying to convince everyone, especially himself, of the image he wants to be real without actually knowing it to be real, this is also why Shadow Kanji is so aggressively the opposite, he's trying to make Kanji doubt himself as by doing so it would allow Kanji to come to the truth, by acting so flamboyant and saying he's "the true self" he wants Kanji to stop denying his self-doubt and to actually reflect on the matter.

I did not grow up with Persona 4, but I did play it during High School. Other than some factors outside of his own control, I think that he was done super well. He's a character that you can separate from his possible representation and is a well rounded and relatable character. If stated explicitly and without the sort of problematic things his friends say to him, I would consider him perfect representation. As someone who is bi, his whole personal story really speaks to me not in a pandering sort of way, but that he is trying to be proud of his own identity. Be the person he wants to be.

Very interesting video. I forgot just how much Kanji's arc also touched upon sexuality as well as gender norms, and I'm really glad for your nuanced opinions. Kanji and Naoto are both characters that I think definitely need this examination from the more interdependent view of self that is more common in Japan. Hence why I think this video is really necessary. It's not often as simple as "you're either gay or you're not", as many people see it.

But I'm really really thankful that you mentioned the ethnocentric issues that I tend to see with a LOT of Western discourse on Japanese media. It's always been really concerning to me to see, and as you rightfully said- it doesn't mean that certain issues in said countries should be excused, but the lack of empathy for other cultures lived experiences is shockingly devoid from well meaning people.

Even if Kanji is straight and Naoto is trans, they’re still pretty queer

Just finished this video with a couple of friends. We wanted to say thank you for adding more context and providing a voice of compassion multiple times in the video.

The point about kanji is that it's ambiguous and you shouldn't assume, but him being pan later on is fine. His only confirmed love interest is naoto

as a lesbian persona fan, this video is great! i love all the nuance that you go into. kanji's story is queer, and it's important to understand the world that this story was written in. when i first played p4g, which was a few years ago, i was so excited to see a gay character, and then excited to see a trans character, and then i quickly was reminded why i don't get my hopes up about good representation LOL. the tent scene with kanji was definitely the worst scene for me, it brought up memories of my female friends gossiping to me (when i was closeted) about sharing a room with a lesbian and how they weren't comfortable because of that. and kanji's crush on naoto being a kind of "luckily naoto is a girl so it's not gay" thing was such a slap across the face. the internet discourse around these topics is exhausting, so this video was a real treat!!
also i had no idea there was a pride pin in a p3r trailer!!!!! such a cute detail that means so much to me

I've really been enjoying your analysis', keep up the great work!!

Man, over 10 Years, Mid High School to turning 29 on Sunday and we're STILL talking about Kanji being Gay or not 😅 🤦