Forum - View topicThe Real Japan Behind Persona 5
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EricJ2
 Posts: 4016 |
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Oddly enough, Netflix's J-drama "My Little Lover" also has important "This is a work of fiction" disclaimers before every episode. I'd thought it was just for the one episode where the characters break into a local shrine and try to steal a traditional artifact--to avoid other trespassers who might recognize the location--but the disclaimers seem to be on EVERY episode, to dissuade the Japanese public out of repeating any dangerous onscreen behavior depicted. And for those who've seen the show, the "fiction" disclaimer may seem a bit...unnecessary. 
I'd just assume that any fiction depicting behavior counter to social laws has to be disclaimered, whether it's phantom thieves or just city drama. Japan is afraid of anything that might even HINT at a lawsuit, and is not shy about pointing fingers at easy scapegoats. |
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CurseTheSky
 Posts: 236 |
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"That wasn't always meant to be the case. Before 2011's Tohoku earthquake, Persona 5 was set to be about backpacking around the world"
I cannot even imagine a Persona game, of all games, with this concept. |
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belvadeer
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That's the real irony of the whole "It's up to the kids to save the day!" Disney/Doraemon-level of childish optimism. Kids are never in a position to change anything for the sheer reason they're too young to do anything about the issues. Once they're adults themselves, they become part of the very crowd that they themselves once labeled as "sucking". There is no instant magical fix to anything once an aspiring kid with goals becomes an adult, and it doesn't always work out for all involved parties. |
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BodaciousSpacePirate
 Subscriber Posts: 3017 |
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You know, it strikes me that if I was as big a fan of Persona as I am a fan of the "proper" Shin Megami Tensei games, and I hadn't made it all the way through P5 yet, I would be pulling my hair out trying to actively avoid articles like this one, for fear that they'd somehow ruin the game for me.
Looking back on SMT IV, though, while that game had a lot of plot twists, l don't really think that my experience playing it would have been significantly altered by spoilers. It just wasn't that kind of narrative. |
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curtisd88
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You... completely missed the point of the article. |
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BadNewsBlues
Posts: 5936 |
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Given how heavy handed and confusing the SMT can games could get that's understandable |
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AiddonValentine
Posts: 2209 |
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Note: This will probably be a wall of text, so just giving everyone fair warning.
The way i interpret these kinds of stories of upheaval and rebellion isn't really "adults suck." It's more like "the previous generation has failed the current and future generations, continues to fail them, and keeps making excuses for itself." The idea is that the previous generation refuses to own up to its mistakes and instead doubles down on them. In Persona 5 the running theme is that old, oblivious numskulls exploit the young when in fact their job as elders is to nurture the new generation in order improve and evolve society. Instead they stew in their obsolescence, making excuses for why they exploit others. Warning: massive spoilers. Target One:spoiler[ Kamoshida is a one-time Olympic Gold Medalist who routinely abuses his team in order to vent his frustrations. This is completely stupid for many reasons as all he's doing is risking his team falling apart due to corporal punishments and taxing practice session, especially since his entire reputation hinges on on the success of the team. As such, he's a failure as a teacher and coach, probably because he's past his prime and keeps using that one time he was more than a loser as a pass for his behavior.] Target Two:spoiler[ Madarame is very similar to Kamoshida i that he was a one-time rising star in the art world before he hit a case of artist's block. Instead of becoming introspective about why he couldn't find inspiration or finding ways to help younger artists instead he lowered himself to murder by inaction by letting Yusuke's mother die of a seizure, stole and vandalized her final painting that was a gift to her son, and then exploited his subsequent students in order to keep up his hedonistic lifestyle. Again, stupid, as all he was doing was causing damage to the art world by burning out dozens of aspiring young artists who could have been the next big thing with him being their teacher being a huge boon to him. Heck, by the events of the game it's clearly not working anymore either as Yusuke is the last student he has, everyone else no doubt chased off by the rumors. And if Yusuke left, what then? At best he'd have to retire as he'd have no more art to steal.] Target Three:spoiler[ Kaneshiro is a bit of an odd duck in the group, being only tangentially related to the events at hand and is mostly just a way to introduce the organization that is the main villainous entity, furthermore he's like Sae in that he's in-between the kids and the adults. However, you could say that he's an example of how the old folks failed his generation, making him a victim of society forced into crime in order to have any sort of power even it's from the shadows where he will never have public acknowledgment. He's, Sae, and Futaba are essentially a second type, being victims of a useless older generation] Target Four:spoiler[ Not just content with murdering her mother, the conspiracy decided humiliating and traumatizing her needed to be done. It's a needlessly cruel and spiteful act that stinks of something insecure bullies do. In fact, this seems to be another running theme: constantly punching down at people without power. Instead of using their positions properly they just belittle the incoming generation to inflate their own egos] Target Five:spoiler[ Okumura routinely exploits his workers to maximize his profits, when in fact all that does is burn people out and leads to alienation in the professional world. He seems to be the most conflicted though as he's forced to make nice with a spoiled brat in Sugimura, who he clearly can't stand as he looks at him as another pawn in his Palace, in order to have a chance at being in the Diet. Furthermore it's also damaged his relationship with his own daughter who should be the focus of his attention] Target Six:spoiler[ The last of the younger targets, Sae is on the verge of becoming just like the older, rotten generation of her superiors. Exposed to corruption on a daily basis she keeps making excuses for why she sits by and lets it happen instead of doing something about it, eventually also treating her own sister with envy as she doesn't have to deal with the pressures of being an adult. And of the targets she's the only one who finally rejects the cycle of exploitation, envy, and insecurity and decides to stand up for the next generation by going against the previous one.] Target Seven:spoiler[ Hoo-boy. Okay, might I say that Shido is a complete and utter @$%$%*$#$%$&&%^$@#%^Y^&% ostrich? Literally nothing redeemable about this guy and you could tell Silverstein and Ikeda were delighting in making him as scummy as possible. Even more than exploiting a generation, he exploits an entire country for his own ego and delusions of grandeur. He panders to the same empty ideas of bringing things back to the good old days and his boss fight looks like something a macho lunkhead thinks is charismatic. And his ultimate nightmare about bringing brought down by a bunch of kids who he looked down on is deliciously karmic.] Whoo, lot of stuff in there, but it's just something I really wanted to talk about. |
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Hoppy800
 Posts: 3331 |
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Japan needs some culture changes when it comes to the workplace and education, it's a hotbed for sadism and all kinds of tyranny imaginable. Heck even the home can be a house of sadism as some parents nearly kill their kids if not actually killing them as discipline. It's a possible death sentence anywhere kids go.
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Sloppy_Jimbo
 Posts: 98 |
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Sloppy's Five reasons to play P5.
5. Great rapport between the youngins'. Nary a dull convo. 4. Nice way to kill time for OCD types with atelier...persona fusions. 3. Keeping it real enough to appreciate and exaggerated enough to entertain. 2. Japanese language track. Did a good job with English tho. 1. Kawakami-sensei. Van Halen said it best... Sloppy's Six predictions why P6 will be better. 6. Overhaul battle system. Elemental weakness system is getting weak. 5. Dio will make cameo appearance as last boss. 4. Protag will be late 30's early 40's with all stress that comes with adulthood. 3. NO MASCOT. 2. Ability to choose gender, orientation, and partner. 1. There will be three divergent endgame paths, none of which will labeled as objectively wrong. |
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BadNewsBlues
Posts: 5936 |
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5 overhauled the combat system by adding two new elements, allowing everyone to use gun attacks (instead of only one character exclusively dealing in it), tying some status ailments to the weather of the season, allow you swap characters out in mid-battle (though you can only do it with the main) don't know how else they can overhaul it other than getting rid of the game over requirement of the main character getting killed.
Persona doesn't realistically seem like a game they would do this with heck not even the main SMT games age the characters up so drastically.
I almost want this to happen given that they're getting a bit redundant with it but I don't expect they'll go this route.
None but that last is likely to happen.
Yeah I don't see them doing that if only because they do it to death as is with both the mainline and spin-off SMT titles. |
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AiddonValentine
Posts: 2209 |
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That is so far removed from the themes of Persona it would be better to just make another SMT spinoff |
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partially
Posts: 702 Location: Oz |
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I am surprised because that moment I didn't feel out of place at all, and I would have never thought further on it. It was an interesting way to do it, and added flavour to the beginning. It is also a pretty common statement in western media, I would have never considered it that uncommon. I see it often enough on games, some films and television. Usually when they incorporate more realistic events and people. It was a interesting twist that they made it into a sort of contract thing in P5, and merged into the themes of the game. |
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prime_pm
 Posts: 2337 Location: Your Mother's Bedroom |
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I have trouble relating to this game. Maybe it's because of its cultural differences, but I feel like the kids and teens in my country are a bunch of entitled brats. When I imagine of a 'young adult hero' standing up against the 'oppressive adults,' I can't help but say "Shut the hell up and pull up your pants! You don't know shit for shit about the real world! And take that Goddamn chain off your wallet! Nobody's gonna steal your bus pass!"
Then again, I also imagine everyone has their individual reasons and that nobody is inherently evil. That and adults used to be children themselves at some point. I'm going off on a tangent, sorry. |
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