Persona 4 – 08
WE REGRET NOTHING~!
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My laptop kind of…broke. I have a desktop computer, but my laptop had 4 months of editorial drafts, ANTM challenge drafts, all of my lecture notes, and a bunch of fanart I had collected. It was terrible! Luckily, I managed to back it all up. I’m going to have to buy a new laptop so I can watch Persona and everything on my giant TV. For now, my posts will be a bit slower and my screencaps a bit blurrier since this computer is kind of old but I’ll do my best! |
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So if you somehow missed it, the OP and ED singles for Persona 4 came out recently! …As for the episode itself, it was more entertaining than I thought it would be, but I don’t think anything is going to beat Kanji’s episode. Ever. |
After the regular Velvet Room stuff with Yu obtaining a new arcana, he learns from the team that there’s a school camping trip coming up on the (conveniently non-rainy) weekend. So the team minus Kanji go to Junes to buy food to eat during it and Yu asks what happens during it. The answer is not much and Chie and Yukiko decide on the ingredients themselves. When Yu gets home, he’s greeted by the ever-adorable Nanako. She seems a little sad that her onii-chan will be gone the next day, but Yu shows her a rather unimpressive trick with a rubber band and she brightens up.
Moving on to the actual camping trip, Yosuke almost dies from food poisoning right from the start (cue Yu supporting Yosuke in true bromance fashion). The girls also make Yu try the curry they made, but it’s emitting PURPLE, so Yu doesn’t even stand a chance. Flashing back to when the girls were shopping, they pretty much bought anything that sounded like a good idea at the time. Yosuke is not impressed. However, a female classmate named Ohtani eats it for them.
On the kohai side of things, we meet Saki Konishi’s younger brother, Naoki (whom people tend to avoid since his sister was murdered). Yosuke is still feeling awful due to the food the girls made him eat, so Yu takes him to the Health Association tent (which Naoki is part of) and they meet Naoki. However, he tells both of them right away that he hates them. Later, Kanji joins the senpai (they ordered Aiya so they wouldn’t starve) and they learn that Kanji is actually childhood friends with Naoki. What? Since when? Anyways, Kanji doesn’t answer their questions and instead brings Naoki for them to ask questions directly. For whatever reason, Naoki is honest with them and says that everyone is keeping their distance from him since his sister died and all of their pity is suffocating. In the end, Yu gives Naoki some food and suddenly everything is awwwwwright. Naoki apologises for saying that he hated them even though it was never explained why he even said that in the first place. The team vows to find the murderer.
“Hey, are you sad?” “Yep.” “Alright, problem solved.”
Later, while they pick up trash, the team talks about the murders again. Since their theory about females being targeted was wrong, they return to the subject of Yamano and Naratame, the guy who was having an affair with her. However, he had an alibi at the time so he’s not their guy. They also move on to the fact that everyone who was thrown into the TV was shown or interviewed on the TV right before they vanished.
So later at night, the guys are all sharing a tent and Yu and Yosuke feel awkward due to the events of last episode. Kanji gets angry and then runs out to the girl’s tent to “prove that he’s a man”. However, when he gets there, Chie and Yukiko are awake due to Ohtani’s snoring and to put it lightly, Chie beats the crap out of him. So the girls go to the boy’s tent. King Moron (yeah, I can’t remember his real name. I think its Moraoka or something.) comes by drunk so the girls have to hide, and then they ask to spend the night. Yu agrees. …So then Yu and Yosuke share half the tent while the girls share the other and Kanji gets molested in his sleep in the other tent.
Ahhh, youth~
The next day, Kanji looks like he’s been through hell and Yosuke says that they should go swimming. The girls aren’t so fond of this idea and use the excuse that they don’t have swimsuits, but Yosuke bought some in Junes at the beginning of the episode. Plus the girls kind of owe them for everything that happened the other day. So the girls change and Yu gets to wear the fabulous swimsuit Dojima bought him (which Kanji compliments). Needless to say, the girls both look impressive and the guys compliment them. However, Yosuke saying that both of them will grow up to be sexy and Yu agreeing earns them both a kick off the cliff. Same goes for Kanji getting a nose bleed. Then they all notice that King Moron is throwing up upstream, effectively scarring them for life. After that, the group runs into Ohtani and all hide, leaving Kanji by himself. They all figure that she’s going to confess her love, but instead she says that Kanji isn’t her type. Poor, poor Kanji.
Leftover Curry:
BOW CHICKA WOW WOW~ Thanks to Jrow for giving us this screencap to reel the male viewers back in after episode 7!
I’d be sad too if I had to stay in a tent instead of that nice-looking house/facility over there
Your sister died? Come, child, heal your soul with MEAT.
And then THIS SONG starts to play
End Thoughts:
While not as funny as Kanji’s episode, the camping episode was certainly an entertaining episode. I actually found this part of the game a bit boring though, and it made me a bit spiteful towards Yosuke for being a jerk to Kanji as well as the girls for tossing the guys off a cliff. If a guy compliments you, you say “thank you.” Is this really so hard to understand, ladies? Also, WHY ALL THE KANJI HATE? I liked the anime version better than the game. Mostly because it was just a bunch of cutscenes, so an anime can really go crazy and run wild with things. My only complaint – no animal crackers. That was the best part!
While the humour was spot-on, and I liked the investigation progress (the game over explains things wayyy too much), I didn’t like Naoki’s social link. His social link, aside from the main characters, is one of my favourites and yet they relegated him to a small portion of a random episode. Yu obtained his arcana based on the ED, which means it’s unlikely we’ll see him again, except as a minor character. He was sad about his sister’s death, but it was how everyone was treating him that really made his life miserable. Imagine everyone consciously trying not to mention anything depressing and always acting on edge around you, or giving you special treatment. You’d just want people to treat you normally. I loved hanging out with him and how cheerful he seemed when you acted normal, and how quickly his mood dropped when some nosey neighbour started to blab incessantly about his sister. I felt like I really, really wanted to cheer him up, even if it meant ignoring all my other social links. Ughh, what a shame he just flatly confessed his problems to everyone them scampered off like a squirrel who was just given food. I bet that slutty nurse gets more screentime than he does *sobs*
So, how about dat mystery? They’ve come to the conclusion that everyone who is kidnapped appears on television first, so the criminal must be targeting people on TV. That means you’d better start paying attention whenever Nanako flips the TV on. It’s kind of a vague hint since A LOT OF FREAKING PEOPLE are on TV, but in this world, not many people appear on the news…Just assume that, okay? With this hint, they should be able to guess who will appear on Midnight Television a little earlier. Hopefully all this investigating doesn’t make Dojima even more suspicious, since he was questioning Yu before.
Well this was less painful than I thought it would be. While Yu was still kicked off a cliff for pretty much no reason, at least the anime made it humorous (where in the game, all it did was make me pity Yosuke/Yu and think that Chie was a bitch). Even the character’s homophobia wasn’t all that bad as I thought it would have been. While there wasn’t really anything new with the plot this episode, at least this was entertaining.
I never actually finished any of Naoki’s Social Link (hell, I never even started it since my understanding or whatever stat I needed wasn’t high enough), but his part in the anime felt really thrown in there for me. I mean, he just told them his problems just because they asked. Though thinking deeper about it, everyone else was avoiding him, so he probably came to like them BECAUSE they were direct. Okay, yeah that makes more sense now (though I still think it was rushed) but since his arcana card appeared in the ending, I assume his part in the anime is pretty much over now.
Ahaha how I view Yu’s character has changed a lot since the first episode, yet I don’t think Yu himself has changed all that much. I guess it’s because of how the writers are now portraying him as a blunt, clueless, comic relief character as opposed to someone with no personality whatsoever. Anyways, so the characters finally realise that people on TV are the ones targeted. This realisation seems so much less painful than in the game version here. Forgive me for my constant game/anime comparisons, but I have to say that the game made everything so much more obvious and therefore, the characters seemed extremely slow and oblivious in turn. The anime is doing an excellent job so far of making the hints more obscure and so it actually makes sense that the characters don’t catch on quickly. I can’t wait to see how they handle the mystery near the end.
Preview: Could it be?! Does Rise finally appear?!
About Tag Team
We live, laugh, enjoy and strictly believe on "more the merrier". When together, we usually come up with very chatty, conversation-based episodics and interesting posts.
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 199 comments
Thans Meta, I got updated on Britney Spears. I thought she died os something. I don’t know what happens in pop industry anymore.
Back on the topic, that was hella funny episode.
But… was it made by the guys who made Hetalia? It had to be! The screenplay is almost exact the same! (also Namikawa).
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I have no idea what she’s doing either, I just happened to secretly like that song and wanted to make everyone else suffer AHAHAHA
I tried to check ANN for anything about the screenplays, but can’t find anything. D: I’ve also never seen Hetalia (only read the “manga”) so I can’t really say
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 199 comments
The whole thing divided into sections (persona! in P4, hetalia! in… hetalia), Namikawa as the main hero, something about captions (close-up => distant set, everything almost not moving), children saying “chapter” titles…. it’s all the same. It had to be done by Hetalia director. It had to!
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Oh I remember that. I don’t even know, but I see the similarities.
Plus I don’t think Yuu has anywhere near as much personality as Italy does.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Great episode. It was fun. Haha, once again, Yosuke homophobia makes another appearance whenever Kanji’s around. He’s even got Yu on edge and that’s surprising. Poor Kanji, too bad. LOL.
That screenshot of Chie and Yukiko in swimsuits was a good way to recover from last week’s episode. Whew, I have to say, that was a lot harder to handle than the episodes in No 6. Yosuke is a perverted mastermind for thinking ahead and getting the swimsuits.
If I ever get stranded in an isolated place with only Chie and Yukiko’s food to eat, I’d rather die of starvation. Rancid looking curry? And I thought Kore wa Zombie’s Sera’s cooking was bad. LOL. They didn’t even know the right ingredients. Coffee milk? Bleh!!
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Worse than No.6? HAHA, that’s funny. I guess it is a lot more pervy than some chaste kisses and slightly suggestive scenes. Well, you guys get way more fanservice than girls get yaoi fanservice. I have to endure giant breasts in my face every other second!
All of the girls in the Persona universe CAN’T COOK XD It’s a curse. Who the hell puts coffee milk in curry?
POWUH: Novice (36-50) with 48 comments
since I don’t play the game, I have no expectation and thus I have no reason to be disappointed. This was a fun episode, just like the last couple of episodes have been so no complains from me.
Kanji is stupidly fun. Stop hating and starts loving lol
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
That’s why I like reading comments from people who haven’t played the game. No preconceived notions or anything. You’re not tainted like we are! That being said, I certainly have been enjoying the past few episodes. It’s turned into such a hilarious show~
POWUH: 1000-1099 and Pirate King with 1048 comments
The main image you girls used this episode is the most I’ve laughed in these past couple P4 episodes. Hysterical.
And thanks for using my pic! 🙂
Is the homophobia thing so prevalent in the game? It’s played for laughs really well here, but I wonder if you kind of made to have Yu go along with Yosuke’s antics.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I loved that scene too XD The combination of expressions and Yosuke’s scream is just..perfect. And once again, thank YOU Jrow!
Ehh..Yosuke is pretty homophobic in the game so that’s the same. However, as Yu you’re pretty comfortable with him even if you try to choose a mean response. For example, when Yu told him to go to the girl’s tent with a grin, that’s where I chose something like “That’s not a good idea, calm down.” You can still choose to tell him to go, but there’s no answer that’s ever like “is our chastity in danger?” LOL at least based on my memory of the game.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Yeah, thanks again, Jrow~!
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 209 comments
I do hope they follow up on some of the social link because most go deeper than just a simple conversation. This was a enjoyable episode and the additions were very nice but poor Kanji.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
They didn’t even solve his problem, they just found out what his problem was and gave him some food. He’s happy he has a new friend now, but just watch as they all ignore him to wander around the TV or start new social links <_<
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
LOLOLOL This episode made me laugh watching the guys sleep and the line “I don’t feel safe around you” Ahahaha that was so freaking hilarious xD
Nice picture with the swimsuits 😀
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
It was the “I thought you accepted me!” “Not at night.” comments that got me XDDDD.
And you can thank Jrow for that. He sent us the picture and everything.
POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ and Vocaloid Fangirl with 363 comments
Every episode is getting progressively crackier HAHA (On second thoughts, last episode’s hot spring Kanji was the most terribly hilarious.)
Although I haven’t played P4, I agree that the social links are covered way too simply and quickly. :\ I wish they would go into more detail.. that would give the characters more depth too.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Yeah… I don’t think anything will be topping Kanji’s episode for a loooooooooong time (hell, I don’t even think what’s coming next will top it).
Well they’re covering the gist of what the links were about, but they’re not going into much detail. (Possibly due to lack of time, or they want to give people incentive to buy the game.)…Yeah, though there are 22 links they have to go through, so I can see why they would shorten a few. I just hope they go into more depth about the team so we can see the new and improved Persona.
…Also so I can make the Kanzeon reference that I’ve been saving ever since I heard that this was being turned into an animePOWUH: and Yaoi Fangirl~ with 2320 comments
It was funny (not as funny as Kanji’s though), but I don’t see the point of this episode. There’s a problem established here, but then…What? That’s it? You say nice words to the poor loner and he’s all happy because of that? No further explanation? We’re not going to go deeper? Wait, whut?
It seems that now Kanji is the victim of all the mean jokes now. I see what you did there, P4 Anime crew
Btw guys, I found out that there’s a lube that’s for taking a bath in the bathtub. Yeah, you pour the lube into the water and the water will be all sticky. How did I know?
…I read a yaoi
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
My reaction exactly.
……………………………..LMAO. It’s official. Yaoi is the answer to life!
POWUH: 800-899 and Flying Sage with 856 comments
I really liked that shot of looking up at the team as they discuss the investigation (with the trees above their heads). For some reason it seemed this episode had more interesting visual ideas than usual. Maybe since they didn’t have a battle scene they put their creativity to use in the normal part.
POWUH: iLurker with 1 comments
Apparently there’s a war about this episode going on in forums/this ain’t mine:
” I kind of expected, and in fact would have encouraged, Yosuke to be a homophobic jerk because, let’s face it, he’s a homophobic jerk. He’s a lovable character, but in the game the fact that he is a homophobic jerk is clearly portrayed as a character flaw. The reactions of other characters to Yosuke’s behavior throughout the game clearly establishes that Yosuke is a tad immature and he blurts out stupid things and he often receives a legitimate comeuppance for his bursts of douchebaggery.
That’s kind of the point with Yosuke: he’s a decent human being who nonetheless is a bit of an ass. And while the Protag basically scores with every woman in the city because he’s a nice, compassionate guy who cares about his friends and acts respectfully, Yosuke deliberately contrasts with the Protag and shows just how and why the Protag just might be so ‘successful’ in his dating life and why he and not Yosuke is the leader of the Investigation Team. With men like Yosuke as ‘competition,’ all Protag has to do is not be a chauvinistic, homophobic douche with the maturity of a third grader!
So, the way I thought Episode Seven should have gone was the way my game’s playthrough essentially went: Yosuke says stupid homophobic shit, the Main Character and the girls scold Yosuke for being so self-centered when Kanji’s life is at risk, the Protag acts like the supportive, all-around awesome person he is (and the awesome person that the game and the anime portray him as and that the other characters believe him to be; that is important), Kanji accepts his shadow, everyone wins!
So it was exceptionally disappointing when the Protag decided to join the Homophobia Train. And not just with one or two “You feel mild trepidation entering this dungeon with the wacky sauna theme…” messages that the game gave. Merely feeling fear upon entering a dungeon with shadows trying to kill you, even if that fear is exacerbated somewhat by some irrational and brazenly idiotic “What if the shadows are gay and try to rape me?” thought is one thing, but it’s what the Protag actually says when he opens his mouth that differentiates the game’s Protagonist from the anime’s douche.
Game Protag hesitates but he never once indicates that he’s willing to abandon the mission outright (and effectively allow Kanji to quite possibly die due to his non-intervention) because he’s afraid of gay people. And while I don’t have the script of Episode Seven in front of me, some of the lines from Protag’s mouth were just disgustingly homophobic. It wasn’t ‘snarky,’ it was homophobic. There is a difference.
But that pales in comparison to Protag’s single worst line (said in Episode Eight, we’ll get there,) and it also pales in comparison to…
* The Protag and Yosuke expressing willingness, at a moment’s notice, to attack and attempt to kill Kanji’s shadow just because Kanji’s Shadow makes them feel uncomfortable because Kanji’s Shadow is totally gay and hitting on them.
Let’s get a few things straight:
At this stage of the storyline, Protag and Yosuke have seen and fought other shadow versions of characters before. They know that shadow versions of characters are absolutely harmless in their original state and remain harmless until the person in question denies them, at which point the shadows transform into a violent version that does in fact start to destroy things.
…So, Yosuke and Protag know that the shadow must be ‘defeated’ by Kanji accepting Shadow Kanji as himself. Given that the shadows have never been permanently ‘defeated’ by the cast by any other means, attacking the pre-transformation form of Kanji’s shadow is counter-productive at best and could well end up in an outcome of Kanji’s death at worst.
Remember, the strategy employed by the P4 characters at this point of the game was to attempt to convince the affected character to accept their shadow before the denial happened, therefore avoiding a fight outright. I’m reasonably certain that at no point in the game did the P4 cast attack the pre-transformation version of a Shadow, particularly when this version of the shadow did nothing to merit their anger except be gay.
And let’s not forget that the only fault or foible of pre-transformation Shadow Kanji was that he was too gay for Yosuke and Protag to apparently handle. Shadow Kanji did not constitute a physical threat to the Persona 4 cast at this juncture. He did not physically attack them. He did not threaten to hurt or kill them.
…He just was gay.
And being gay, in and of itself, was totally enough to send Yosuke and Protag into a primordial rage.
But even if we could stop there, I might have been okay with the episode. I mean, sure, lots of (heterosexual, privileged) high school guys who are otherwise decent people have no idea whatsoever how to handle the thought that another guy might think they’re smexy. Back in high school, I was one of those guys myself! And maybe there’s a message here that the P4 Anime would attempt to convey, like perhaps the Protag who was a perfectly compassionate, likable dude in the game would be portrayed very differently, as a flawed boy with significant moral shortcomings, in the anime.
But then…
* Chie and Yukiko join in and attack a pre-transformation version of Shadow Kanji who represents no physical threat to them just because he’s gay.
I guess Chie sort of attempted an excuse of “It’s not because he’s gay, it’s because I’m impulsive and really annoyed at his monologue and I want to freeze things!” But it was particularly surprising (and disappointing) to see Yukiko Amagi, who is basically presented as a sweet, likable girl who’s thoughtful and considerate and not excessively prone to initiate violence suddenly decide that she too has had enough of Shadow Kanji.
…because Shadow Kanji is ‘acting gay.’
Shadow Chie was acting pretty sinister; why didn’t Yosuke and Protag beat the crap out of her when she talked her trash, before Chie’s denial and Shadow Chie’s transformation into Dominatrix Banana-Chick? Actually, that’s just the thing; Shadow Chie’s pre-transformation dialogue was arguably far more threatening and antagonistic than Shadow Kanji’s, because really, all Shadow Kanji does is flirt shamelessly and talk about how much he enjoys what constitutes his definition of a ‘good time.’
The answer that the Anime posits to us is quite simple: Shadow Kanji was gay, and open about being gay, and willing to flirt openly and present his sexuality in a forthcoming manner around others, and that alone merited wanton violence against him. From everyone, male or female, ‘jerks’ and ‘compassionate heroes’ alike. The Protag is the chosen one, a symbol of tolerance, progression, heroism, the greatest hope the town of Inaba has, beloved by every woman, respected by man, and he totally wants you to know you better not flirt with him if you have a penis or he will fuck your shit. Chie and Yukiko weren’t even a position to feel personally threatened by Shadow Kanji’s idle flirtations and they still were so riled by Kanji’s **gayness** that physical violence was the preferred solution! Their only justification was one of brazen homophobia, unless you want to argue that they were ‘afraid’ they’d otherwise be subjected to something so torturous as ‘watching this guy talk about how much he enjoys hot saunas with other guys.’
* Did I mention that all of this is occurring in the context of a moment when Kanji’s life is personally threatened? The kids don’t have the slightest clue of the intricate nature of the TV world they’re exploring; all they know is that they have a strict timetable to save Kanji in or he dies, and he needs to accept his Shadow or he’s at risk.
…Oooh, I know! Let’s antagonize Kanji’s Shadow before it transforms and give Kanji more reasons to want to deny his affiliation with said Shadow because we literally care more about not having to listen to gay people flirt with us or our guy friends, than we value Kanji’s life!
* Oh, it’s okay, because we all know that deep down inside Protag’s a really, truly nice guy who cares about Kanji and respects their friendship, he just likes to be ‘snarky’ (manifesting his snark in the form of wanton attacks in this particular instance, I suppose) to his buddies, right?
Well, Episode Eight puts rest to any thought of that notion!
Episode Eight takes place after the Protag and his buddies have presumably ‘accepted’ Kanji.
…Only they’ve only accepted Kanji at day. At night, it’s another matter entirely!
Protag’s line here is absolutely ludicrous to defend precisely because Yosuke acts far worse around women and the Protag does not call Yosuke out on it. Hell, in the very same episode, Yosuke brazenly advocates that Chie and Yukiko sleep in an integrated manner with he and Protag — he is advocating a sexually predatory outcome in a tent in the exact same manner that he and Protag accused Kanji of doing! And yet the Protag and the women will tolerate this, because it’s typical heterosexual male chauvinistic bullshittery.
…And that’s probably actually the biggest problem about all of this. It isn’t just the homophobia, although the homophobia is very overt and very despicable and it very openly refutes the P4 game’s flawed yet positive approach of encouraging tolerance and diversity in friendships.
…It’s that the characters respond so harshly to actions taken by ‘homosexual’ characters while tolerating and in fact encouraging the very same behavior from their heterosexual counterparts!
Yosuke forcing Yukiko and Chie to wear swimsuits despite their discomfort at the notion is funny and typical guy hijinks, and Yosuke can be excused of that! Even Chie and Yukiko don’t aggressively call Yosuke out for being creepy. When Yosuke says “Hey Yukiko and Chie, why not sleep alongside us tonight?” The girls do not respond by badgering Yosuke for threatening to take their ‘chastity.
So the message here is plain: Girls just have to tolerate this from heterosexual guys! Heterosexual guys can and will act like perverts who want to steal your sexual purity against your will and force you to dress up in scanty swimsuits, but you should just swallow your criticism and choose to remain his friend and accept the behavior as ‘typical.’ Even the Protag, by refusing to aggressively scold Yosuke when Yosuke acts legitimately creepy as fuck in drooling over Chie or Yukiko, is passively enabling Yosuke as his ‘friend’ to engage in this skeevy shit.
…But when Kanji barely acts half as predatory as Yosuke and is just sitting silently in the middle of the guy’s tent, both Yosuke and Protag feel that their chastity is in serious danger! Not even because Kanji is gay and because Kanji, like Yosuke to the girls, has expressed a serious sexual interest in the Protag or Yosuke. The ‘real’ (non-Shadow) Kanji hasn’t flirted with Protag or Yosuke at all! They don’t even really definitively know whether Kanji is actually gay! And there’s far less evidence that Kanji is remotely interested in pursuing a relationship, and he’s certainly not forcing the Protag or Yosuke to waltz around in swimsuits for his personal enjoyment.
…The anime says this: The mere possibility that your guy friend might be gay, even if he is utterly disinterested in you, is more threatening than a heterosexual guy’s overt and depraved sexual interest in women. There’s only reason why this could be: Because mere gayness in and of itself is a ‘threat!’
* And the game sort of was imperfect too, but the crucial difference was, the game at least gave you incentives to roleplay the Protag as a decent human being who did not in fact support this worldview. Yosuke may have been condemned to his childish immaturity, but the Protag received rewards in the form of boosts to his social links with Chie and Yukiko by treating them respectfully during the swimsuit scene, and the Protag received rewards in the form of boosts to his social link with Kanji by treating Kanji compassionately, like a true friend, supporting Kanji’s presence in the tent, refuting privilege and refusing to indulge in homophobia. Even if you could choose to roleplay the Protag as a jerk, doing so felt out of character (how could the Protag acquire the sincere respect of Kanji and the women he interacts with regularly if he was a chauvinistic homophobe?)
Choosing the ‘I-am-a-decent-human-being’ options subsequently flow naturally. Yukiko and Chie and Naoto and Kanji and Nanako and Dojima repeatedly reinforce the notion that Protag is a great guy; and more often than not, choosing the ‘snarky’ options results in penalties to your P4 gameplay experience in the form of stalling social links. An ideal playthrough requires you to consider your friends’ feelings and act respectfully and not be intolerant.
But P4: The Anime is tying to have its cake and eat it, too; it’s simultaneously attempting to give you a snarky Protag who repeatedly chooses the “hysterical” (note that I don’t think they’re often very funny) dialogue options, yet also gives you a Protag who, by the Anime’s own admission, has above-average Stats in all fields of personal growth by Episode Eight and who’s Maxing social links with relative ease. The dynamic of P4 that once punished a homophobic, chauvinistic, asshole of a player is gone, and instead there’s a huge fundamental disconnect: The anime characters are still acting like Protag is the sweetest, coolest, most benevolent, likable, tolerant human being they know, utterly demanding their fealty and accruing their affections, but the Protag is increasingly acting just as big a jerk as Yosuke is.
The plentiful evidence that the game provided you that the Protag was a decent person in watching his social links gradually accrue over extended periods of time and effort is gone; what’s left is a homophobic jokester who tolerates Yosuke’s chauvinism and who’s petty and insecure and yet still beloved. At this point, the Protag is in desperate need of the same kind of abuse given to Yosuke on a regular basis. But even when Yukiko and Chie dared toss the Protag into the river with Yosuke, it’s still heavily implied that they’re totally crushing on him, just as it’s still heavily implied that Kanji thinks the Protag is an incredible friend (except, well, not at night, lest his chastity be threatened) and just as Naoki can apparently be swayed from hating the Protag and Yosuke to totally being good bros in the course of a single goddamn conversation.
…So it’s not just the homophobia that bothers me, although it’s bothersome enough. It’s that the homophobia is in plain contradiction of the halo the P4 anime team is still painting around the Protag, and that in painting that angelic halo around the Protag, the animators are saying this: The Protag is an ideal high school student; all you high school students watching the P4 Anime should want to be just like him, because he’s going to get all the girls and earn the respect of all the guys and he’s a role model. Oh, and by the way, he totally hates gay people, and you should, too. They make him feel awkward and uncomfortable and fearful for his chastity just in the mere act of being themselves. And, it is totally acceptable for heterosexual men to treat their gay friends with this degree of innate suspicion. (By the way, despite the fact that gay people can’t do this to you, it’s totally cool for you or your heterosexual friends to go even further then this when pursuing women. They just have to accept your inherent lustful state.)”